Tag: RealWorldRelevant

The nation’s longest-running major sporting event – the Kentucky Derby – ran for the 147th time May 1, and 24 Pennsylvania College of Technology students were on hand in the kitchens of historic Churchill Downs to lend their culinary skills.

While Penn College hospitality students’ work at the Kentucky Derby has been a tradition for more than 25 years, the students were unable to attend the 146th running of the Derby in 2020, when, due to the pandemic, it ran without guests in the stands in September instead of its traditional time slot on the first Saturday in May.

The students were grateful to return in 2021.

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Graphic design students from Pennsylvania College of Technology captured all student awards in the latest American Advertising Awards presented by the Northeast Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Advertising Federation.

“Our students did outstanding work, and these awards reinforce the quality of our program and our soon-to-be graduates,” said Nicholas L. Stephenson, instructor of graphic design. “Congratulations to all of this year’s American Advertising Awards winners. Amid COVID and social distancing, the AAF of Northeast PA was able to put on a great virtual awards show.”

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Philly Shipyard Inc. recently donated welding consumables to Pennsylvania College of Technology for instructional use in the college’s welding program.

The donation includes nine pallets of Lincoln Electric brand welding consumables; Lincoln Electric paid for the freight costs associated with the donation.

Philly Shipyard, a leading U.S. shipbuilder presently pursuing a mix of commercial and government work, expects to hire nearly 200 welders in 2021 to accommodate work on a new project involving four government training vessels for use at the state maritime academies. The donated material had to be replaced with material specific to the company’s new contracts.

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For Thomas L. Snyder, his graduation at Pennsylvania College of Technology on May 16 will mark more than the end of a rigorous academic pursuit. It will close his family’s chapter at the college, which dates to the Kennedy Administration.

The Weedville native’s lineage is linked to the college’s evolution from a renowned postsecondary technical institute to the second community college in Pennsylvania to its current status as a national leader in applied technology education.

Snyder’s maternal grandfather, Thomas E. Foster, earned a machinist certificate from Williamsport Technical Institute in 1962, and his father, Troy L. Snyder, attended Williamsport Area Community College in the mid-1980s, just a few years before it became Penn College, a special mission affiliate of Penn State.

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Pennsylvania College of Technology’s paramedic program is accepting applications for a new Bachelor of Science degree in health science: prehospital medicine concentration for the Fall 2021 semester.

The new degree is being offered in addition to the paramedic program’s current certificate and associate degree options. It provides a strong foundation in the natural sciences while preparing graduates to function as competent entry-level paramedics.

Coursework prepares students for administrative and teaching positions within the paramedic profession, as well as providing the necessary foundational knowledge for entry into many graduate-level programs, including medical school and physician assistant degree programs.

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From the Spring 2021 Penn College Magazine: Extraordinary curiosity led Fletcher Ewing, ’98, from childhood Soap Box Derbies to an innovation-filled career. His latest role is senior mechanical engineer for X, developing robots with the humanlike capacity to learn. Read “Revolutionizing Robotics.”

Nursing alumna Stephanie Suzadail, whose airborne delivery of emergency care is featured in the spring issue of Penn College Magazine, recently established two aptly named funds in support of Pennsylvania College of Technology students.

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A Pennsylvania College of Technology electronics student used a game synonymous with skill to showcase his automation and robotics acumen.

For his senior project, Aaron T. McGinley, of Williamsport, created a virtual version of chess that allows a robot to mimic the game. Users play via a computer screen and a Kuka industrial robot picks up and arranges 3D pieces on wooden chessboards to reflect the on-screen action.

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Excerpts from a student’s portfolio accompany a faculty-written article in the May issue of Avionics News, published internationally by the Aircraft Electronics Association. The work of Corey S. O’Loughlin – an aviation maintenance technology major from Bethlehem – helpfully illustrates a Theory & Practice column by Thomas D. Inman, associate professor at Penn College’s Lumley Aviation Center and a regular contributor to the magazine for more than a decade. “Keeping a log today is much easier than in the 1980s when I started working on aircraft. Now, thanks to tablets with cameras, spreadsheets and electronic storage, a technician has a real opportunity to create an aid that I could only dream,” writes Inman in his “Keep a Notebook” piece. “I would find an old three-ring binder and fill it with blank pages. I would add notes and sketches on the pages in my rather poor handwriting. Today, you can snap a photo, and I encourage my students to do this. In addition, you can type something legible. Drawing tools are free, and you can make sketches using them.”

From the Spring 2021 Penn College Magazine: Having weathered many challenges herself, Geisinger Life Flight’s Stephanie Suzadail, ’14, loves to provide calm in the center of the storm. Read “A flight nurse’s calling.”

Like many his age, Pennsylvania College of Technology student Joseph C. Lusk grew up admiring YouTubers, dreaming of becoming a celebrity by posting clips of his video gaming. But combining his YouTube fascination with another passion – racing – gained him his first experience abroad, practicing his favorite activity behind the wheel of a late model race car in Australia.

Well before he started watching YouTube vloggers play video games, Lusk, of Linden, watched NASCAR races on television with his dad on Sundays.

“I was drawn to that, and it was my favorite thing,” said Lusk.

So when he was 3, his parents, Hal and Cathy Lusk, bought him a go-kart for Christmas.

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Juggling full-time college classes by day and full-time emergency medical technician work by night, Brooke M. Strubel is earning her Bachelor of Science degree in emergency management and homeland security in just two and a half years. For a young woman who recommends getting out of your comfort zone to achieve your highest potential, this past year, intensified by a global pandemic, has offered an ideal environment in which to enhance her people-centered skills.

“I never thought that I’d be working during a pandemic … but it’s an experience that I won’t forget,” said the soon-to-be Pennsylvania College of Technology graduate from Strasburg. “Challenges get you out of your comfort zone, and that is the area in which you will find yourself, your passions, your strengths and, yes, even your weaknesses. This is the area in which you will thrive and improve. Everything you learn advances your knowledge and leads to personal and professional growth.”

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A Pennsylvania College of Technology senior was commissioned as an Army second lieutenant in an outdoor ceremony held Saturday morning at the college.

Joined in person on the Bush Campus Center patio by family members and online by livestreaming well-wishers, Andrew Placencia, of Reading – a Bald Eagle Battalion ROTC cadet earning a degree in automotive technology management – will be branched into the Army Ordnance Corps.

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Pennsylvania College of Technology’s horticulture department delivered 450 poinsettia plants to UPMC Susquehanna on Thursday for distribution to health care workers.

The plants are annually grown in the Schneebeli Earth Science Center greenhouse for a holiday sale, but ongoing COVID-19 concerns prompted the traditional event’s cancellation. Instead, senior administration agreed that the poinsettias should be donated to front-line workers in hopes of bringing some seasonal cheer in the midst of their selfless service.

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In January, Pennsylvania College of Technology’s paramedic program will launch a hybrid instruction option that combines in-person and online learning.

Designed to provide flexibility for EMTs who want to complete a paramedic education program while continuing to work, the lecture portion of the paramedic coursework will be both livestreamed and recorded for later viewing by those who use the hybrid instruction model. For students who prefer the traditional experience, lectures will continue to be held in-person.

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