Penn College’s “My Tomorrow” program (June 21-24 and June 28-July 1) opened middle-schoolers’ minds to a variety of vocational possibilities through hands-on activities and faculty-led sessions. The initiative, sponsored by the Soars Family, exposed students to a number of prospective careers – such as engineering, business and hospitality, the arts, and health sciences – as well as giving them a jump on charting their paths to success and satisfaction.

– Photos by Jennifer A. Cline, writer/magazine editor; Cindy Davis Meixel, writer/photo editor;
Larry D. Kauffman, digital publishing specialist/photographer; and Tom Wilson, writer/editor-PCToday

Focused on the task at hand, a camper makes aspirin in a chemistry lab.

Goggled up, gloved up and geared up for scientific exploration!

An illuminating “inside view” of radiography

Preparing for surgery? Campers learn to navigate the complexities of the operating room, including “gowning up” in the surgical technology lab.

A selfie, featuring a face that perhaps only a parent could recognize, masks a son’s enthusiasm about the week’s activities. (Photo by Kimberly R. Cassel, director of alumni relations)

A youngster rolls through an obstacle course in the physical therapist assistant lab, gaining sensitivity to the difficulties in maneuvering a wheelchair.

Duncan Rodriguez (at right), part-time practical nursing faculty, guides youngsters through the protocols of properly gathering and confirming patient medicines. Rodriguez earned his bachelor’s degree in nursing in 2018 and was an active student leader during his Wildcat days.

What happens when a cheese ball, frozen in minus 320-degree liquid nitrogen, hits your mouth.

A participant serves as an assistant, helping to flash freeze Teddy Grahams in a “cryo” bowl, using liquid nitrogen.

Stretching dough for a personal pizza in the baking lab

Cheese and pepperoni – AKA “the essentials” – are added.

Caught green-handed, a young man pours colored concrete into a tree-shaped pan.

Franklin H. Reber Jr., instructor of building construction technology, mixes quick-setting concrete …

… so the middle-schoolers could dirty their hands in forming take-home creations.

Instructor Joshua J. Rice leads middle-school students through the college’s renowned plastics facilities …

… including a stop in the injection molding lab, where flying disks were produced.

Faculty members Spyke M. Krepshaw and Melissa A. Webb work with students in an information technology lab.

Tools at hands for a potentially life-changing exercise

Coached by Christopher S. Weaver, recently promoted to assistant professor of diesel equipment technology, an “equipment operator” capably knocks over bowling pins in a college parking lot.

All aboard for a diesel-powered ride through campus, courtesy of faculty member John D. Motto.