Penn College News

Industry Scholarship Awarded to Forest Technology Student

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

A first-year forest technology student at Pennsylvania College of Technology has received the latest scholarship from a fund that memorializes a longtime regional leader in the lumber industry.

Griffin B. Welch, of Spring Mills, a recent graduate of Penns Valley Junior-Senior High School who will enter the two-year college major this fall, received a $1,000 award from the Richard P. Lauchle Scholarship Fund administered by the Keystone Wood Products Association. The check was presented during the association’s annual membership dinner, held at Penn College’s Thompson Professional Development Center.



Scholarship recipient Griffin B. Welch, of Spring Mills, center, is joined by, from left, George Greig, Pennsylvania’s agriculture secretary; Dennis F. Ringling, forestry professor at Pennsylvania College of Technology; and his parents, Tina and Steve Welch."I look forward to working with Griffin,” said Dennis F. Ringling, a forestry professor in the college’s School of Natural Resources Management. “He is very excited about the profession he has chosen.”

Lauchle graduated at the top of Williamsport Area Community College’s first forest technology class, was a deputy warden and forester with the Pennsylvania Game Commission, and worked for Weyerhaeuser in Washington state. He founded Lauchle Lumber in 1974, owning and operating the Montoursville business until his July 2008 death.

Griffin B. Welch with Eileen Lauchle, whose late husband is memorialized by the Richard P. Lauchle Scholarship Fund.His wife of nearly 40 years, Eileen, was among those on hand for the presentation. The event also was attended by Ringling and Erich R. Doebler, laboratory assistant for forest technology at the college’s Schneebeli Earth Science Center and a member of the KWPA.

The scholarship fund, formed through donations from the Lauchle family, private individuals and trade organizations, honors someone of high moral character, integrity, strong work ethic and, most importantly, with the desire for forest stewardship.

The Harrisburg-based Keystone Wood Products Association includes members from the lumber industry, as well as its widespread business and service providers. Its mission is to strengthen and expand the wood-products manufacturing base in Central Pennsylvania in order to maintain and enhance the industry’s competitive position in today’s global economy.

For more about the School of Natural Resources Management, call 570-320-8038.

For more information about Penn College, email the Admissions Office or call toll-free 800-367-9222.