Students Gain Practical Experience at Off-Campus Job Site
Published 10.27.2006
A class of Pennsylvania College of Technology masonry students recently gained valuable experience at a worldwide-focused mission near Montoursville, continuing the institution's tradition of community service through hands-on involvement.
Once a week from September through early October, the students installed decorative El Dorado mountain stone on the office building of Tech Service International. Tech Serve, a volunteer-based nonprofit organization located along Green Hollow Road, two miles north of Montoursville, provides electrical and technical expertise to evangelical missions worldwide.
"This has been a very successful project for both the students and the mission," said Paul W. Kinley, Tech Serve's ministry coordinator. "The facility received a much-needed facelift, and the masonry students received practical, hands-on experience." Directly involved in the project were Thomas E. Garber, Tech Serve director, and Kerry R. Grasser, a volunteer and retired civil engineer from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
"We did a lot of work over the years for Camp Susque (a nondenominational camp in Trout Run, north of Williamsport), which referred us to Tech Serve," said Glenn R. Luse, instructor of building construction technology in Penn College's School of Construction and Design Technologies. "They have ongoing building projects that would be unaffordable if it wasn't for Penn College's benevolent off-campus programs. I'm glad that we extend our students' learning into the community; they get the most out of it."
A completion party was held at the site Oct. 5, with pizzas donated by Domino's Pizza and a gift card provided by Sam's Club.
For more information about Tech Serve, visit online.
For more about masonry and other majors in the School of Construction and Design Technologies, call (570) 327-4518, send e-mail or visit on the Web.
( Photos by Glenn R. Luse, instructor of building construction technologyat Penn College, and Paul W. Kinley, Tech Serve's ministry coordinator)