Scouts gain new skills, acquire merit badges

Boy Scouts from several Pennsylvania councils – and some from surrounding states – made their way to campus on Feb. 19 for Merit Badge College, during which they had their choice of 19 merit badge offerings. Expertise for the hands-on sessions – which ranged from two to six hours – was provided by Penn College faculty, who led the learning activities. Topics covered all three of the college’s academic schools, from drafting to soil and water conservation, and from dentistry to welding.

– Photos by Jennifer A. Cline, writer/magazine editor

 

 

A Scout checks pipework on his way to a plumbing merit badge.

This Scout, tightening a fitting in the plumbing session, is on track to become the first female Eagle Scout from the Susquehanna Council, according to Scout leader Chuck Mertes, a plumber who, appropriately, was stationed in the HVAC/plumbing lab.

In the Paramedic Lab, Scouts practice applying a tourniquet in pursuit of a First Aid merit badge.

Using the right touch to appropriately tighten a tourniquet

A Scout quickly gains helpful hands-on experience in the college’s well-equipped Paramedic Lab.

A Scout builds an electrical circuit.

With a little help from Scott A. Seroskie, instructor of electrical technologies, a Scout pursuing a merit badge in electricity checks his connections.

Scouts strip wires that, paired with a pill bottle, cotton balls, a 9-volt battery and a smoke detector buzzer, make a gadget.

Engineering design student Stephen C. Brodecki, who’s also taking the Robotic Applications course, is among a pair of Penn College Eagle Scouts who lent hands-on help to scouts pursuing an electronics merit badge.

A Scout solders an LED light onto a circuit board.

Gaining a new hands-on skill in the college’s electronics lab

A Scout smooths resin over glass fiber to create a composite sheet in the plastics program’s Materials Testing Lab.

Joshua J. Rice, instructor of plastics technology, walks through the injection molding process with engaged Scouts seeking merit badges in composite materials.