Campers' Visit Amplifies College Responsiveness to Industry

Penn College's role in workforce preparation for the oil and natural gas industry, from noncredit training to degree programs, was the daylong focus for participants in Mansfield University's Marcellus Camp on Tuesday. As a wrap-up to their three-day exploration of gas-related careers, about 20 participants and their counselors visited main campus in Williamsport and the Schneebeli Earth Science Center near Allenwood. The youths – mainly Tioga County high schoolers (along with students from Indiana, Clarion and Potter counties, as well as New York state) – began the day at the college's Marcellus Shale Education & Training Center, heard a presentation from the Admissions Office and toured welding labs in the Avco-Lycoming Metal Trades Center. They then boarded southbound vans for a trip to the heavy equipment training site, got a look at diesel and forestry majors in the School of Natural Resources Management, and ended their day at the nearby Energy Technology Education Center along Route 15. The camp, offered for the first time this year by Mansfield's Marcellus Institute, also included a visit to a Chesapeake Energy wellfield.