About 30 students took part in the inaugural Penn College Outdoor Weekend on Friday and Saturday, enjoying a camping trip amid the Schneebeli Earth Science Center’s 400-plus acres of scenic surroundings. Organized by the Student Activities Office – and enhanced by hospitable weather and the playground that IS the School of Transportation & Natural Resources Technologies’ living laboratory – the overnight experience allowed students to learn Survival 101 tips; practice their open-fire cooking skills with “mountain pies” and s’mores; prepare their own campsites; and much more.

– Photos by Tia G. La, student photographer

Wide-open to adventure

Flames vanquish the fallish chill, warmly encouraging fireside chats.

Students learn how to read a topographical map, courtesy of Westley Shaffer, from Liberty Mountain in Montoursville.

Sal Vitko (left), assistant director of student activities for student organizations/orientation, facilitates a “challenge by choice” team-building activity.

A dotting of stars – Mother Nature’s navigational tool – illuminates the sky, tucked away from the artificial light that often obstructs the view.

Samuel J. Pham lounges in his above-ground accommodations under a leafy canopy at the ESC. An aviation maintenance technology major from Camp Hill, he also led a Friday night hike on the woodland campus’s nature trails.

A fun (and functional) souvenir will offer a reminder with every sip.

Army veteran Keenan A. Bayus, a software development and information management major from Waterford, teaches campers the fundamentals of building a fire.

Baking and pastry arts student Emma M. Mikulecky, of Williamsburg, adds an outdoorsy badge to her toolbox of life skills.

The weekend included demonstrations by axe-swinging members of the Penn College Woodsmen’s Team …

… as well as award-winning Wildcat archers.