From living space to makerspace, summer visitors have their hands full

– Photos by Cindy Davis Meixel, writer/photo editor;
Jennifer A. Cline, writer/magazine editor;
and Tim Wegman, student photographer
(unless otherwise noted)

A young camper focuses on creating a pocket on a skirt in the wearable art workshop of Creative Art Camp.

Gloomy skies outside didn’t dampen the creative spirit in the picturesque art studios of the Bush Campus Center.

Creative Art Campers engage in intaglio printmaking techniques.

A camper fashions a hood in the wearable art workroom.

Kid-created fashions from head to toe!

Partnering on a project

Youngsters delight in a camp-concluding fashion show, held in a Campus Center hallway conveniently between two restrooms (for quick costume changes).

Grow & Design Horticulture participants learn plant identification and propagation techniques from Dennis P. Skinner (center), assistant professor of horticulture.

Hands-on in horticulture! A student works with Korean spice viburnum leaves.

Filling plug flats with soil at the Schneebeli Earth Science Center

Skinner shares greenhouse know-how with his young charges.

A full house in an architecture lab with Naim N. Jabbour (at front), assistant dean of construction and design technologies, offering insights into the profession.

Penn College students Olivia A. Kleman (standing at left) and Riley A. Ferro (standing in background) assist Architecture Odyssey campers. Kleman and Ferro, enrolled in building science and sustainable design, returned to campus as camp assistants for their major.

A young girl explores the amazing software options available in the architecture field.

Pizza for everyone! Following a tour of Williamsport’s Historic District, the Architecture Odyssey crew celebrates at The Stonehouse Wood Fired Pizza & Pasteria in the city’s downtown.

Learning the skills and craftsmanship required of a builder in the newest pre-college offering: Building Construction.

Glenn R. Luse, instructor of building construction masonry, schools the crowd.

Students learn how to build their own timber-framed pavilion …

Obliging a photographer’s request, two Aviation campers pause in the hangar.

The skies may be cloudy, but Michael Damiani (seated in front passenger seat), aviation maintenance instructor, gives students a glimpse of a brilliant future.

In an electrical lab at the Aviation Center, students learn to tin wires with solder as part of building a working electrical circuit.

Aviation campers gain engine insights from Michael R. Robison, aviation instructor.

With the Lumley Aviation Center as their playground, a group of pre-college participants and their faculty heads off for adventure …

… and the towing of college aircraft guided by aviation maintenance instructors Matthew D. Krepps (at center) and Michael Damiani (at right). Degrees that work, indeed!

In a brand design workshop, Graphic Design Summer Studio students listen to their instructor’s feedback. The group was charged with developing a brand for one of two fictitious clients: Firefly Café and Black Bear Film Festival.

Students present their initial design sketches and brainstorm solutions with graphic design instructor Nicholas L. Stephenson (standing).

Sketchbooks reveal the beginnings of the creative process.

A young designer develops her concept.

Campers gather in the graphic design hallway prior to their closing exhibition …

... where family members view the results of their inspired efforts.

ASPIE students delight in speech recognition software at an assistive technology session led by Dawn M. Dickey (second from left), assistant director of disability services.

Dickey explores college life skills and goal-setting with a participant.

A popular ice-breaker on campus: a beach ball covered in questions engages guests.

Connections Links (the college’s orientation leaders) and ASPIE participants enjoy get-acquainted activities in Penn’s Inn.

Creative Art Camp kids attend one of “The Hundred Dresses” performances by Studio 570 in The Gallery at Penn College. (Photo by Penny Griffin Lutz, gallery director)

Steady-handed Automotive Restoration campers practice in a College Avenue Labs paint booth.

Faculty member Roy H. Klinger mentors his young guests in a metalforming activity.

Gaining exposure to some of the vintage vehicles accessible to Penn College students

... as campers enjoy a campus jaunt in restored antique automobiles.

Vanessa Mathurin, collision repair toolroom attendant and college alumna, shares her specialized upholstery skills.

Enthusiasm is obvious with a rear-window wave ...

... exhibiting teamwork during the heavy lifting ...

... and in the assembly process.

The Lycoming Engine Metal Trades Center hosted young welders, clad in proper safety equipment ...

... for a hands-on exercise typical across Penn College's campuses.

... and Richard J. Calvert Jr., assistant professor ...

... before the campers hunker down and apply what they've learned in a practical project.

During the electronics portion of the Engineering program, individualized attention is provided by faculty members Ken J. Kinley, instructor of electronics and computer engineering technology ...

Craig A. Miller, instructor of engineering design technology, engages campers in a CAL classroom.

Sharing her expertise with IT campers interested in gaming and simulation is Alicia McNett (left), instructor of computer information technology.

Allison F. Chapman, an information assurance and cyber security major, leads a networking workshop.

A job well-done! (Photo by instructor Barney A. Kahn IV)

A construction camper shows off his work as parents visit on the final day. (Photo by Carol A. Lugg, dean of construction and design technologies)

Chad R. Wilcox (in hat), a 2013 aviation technology grad, leads a field-trip tour through the Eagles Mere Air Museum. (Photo by Walter V. Gower, assistant dean of transportation and natural resources technologies)

In the physician assistant lab, participants receive hands-on lessons – and casts – from students.

Participants experience techniques for developing balance during a session on physical therapy assisting.

Radiography student Adrianne A. Nicholas, of Turbotville, shows Health Careers participants a digitally captured X-ray image. Joining them is Karen L. Plankenhorn, clinical supervisor of radiography.

Michelle M. Budnovitch, instructor of business administration/health information technology, provides assistance in updating a patient record.

Health Careers campers get a peek at health information careers.

A participant tries on a Williamsport Bureau of Fire staff member’s well-insulated jacket.

A visitor views a friend through the Old Lycoming Township Volunteer Fire Co.’s thermal imaging camera.

Participants explore equipment that visited the Health Careers program courtesy of the Williamsport Bureau of Fire. Susquehanna Regional EMS and Old Lycoming Township Volunteer Fire Co. also made time to talk with the participants and show off their tools.

In the occupational therapy assistant Lab, a participant makes slime, which has a variety of therapeutic uses.

A visitor practices using retractors in the surgical technology lab’s operating room.

Surgical technology student Danika M. Paige (center) shows participants how to scrub for surgery.

In a dental hygiene workshop, a participant cures a sealant.

Health Careers visitors use ultrasound to listen to the heart of SimMom’s baby.

Abbey Flick, one of four area educators who served as mentors for SMART Girls, provides tips on making “scrunchies.”

SMART Girls Kenna (left) and Sophia devise their plan to clean the oceans.

A team devised a name for its cause – which aims to even the playing field, in some cases literally by providing improved sporting facilities, for female athletes – then designed a bracelet that they laser cut and etched before applying a heat gun to shape it.

Mikayla (left), a repeat SMART Girls participant who decided to serve as a helper this year as the focus of her high school senior project, helps participants line up a project on the laser cutter.

A selection of merchandise devised by “Clean the Oceans” to fund cleaning supplies for its volunteer teams or to help marine life charities

A team devised a cause called Build the Knowledge, which focuses on increasing education in the developing world. It would renew used textbooks with handmade book covers and donate them to schools that need them, and it would sell school supplies to fund the construction of schools. Included in the display are a book cover sample, a 3D-printed model school and 3D-printed business card holder, and business cards developed by the girls.

SMART Girl Jasmin shows her organization’s business card and website.

Teammates India and Brenna, who share a love for biology, stand ready to discuss their organization, Give to Genetics, which aims to provide genetic testing for those who could not otherwise afford it.

The Dr. Welch Workshop provides a haven for materializing dreams.

Ryleigh and Eliana develop their idea: to use plastic waste that has made its way to the ocean to make the plastic filament used by 3D printers.

Symantha uses a 3D printing pen to make tokens for a board game that she and her teammate developed to teach children how to conserve energy around the home.

Chef Todd M. Keeley, instructor of baking and pastry arts/culinary arts, demonstrates to Future Restaurateurs how to load bread into an MIWE Condo Deck Oven.

A participant slices the top of an Italian bread loaf to provide a means for steam to escape.

Future Restaurateurs gather with their mentors (in center in white): Chefs Frank M. Suchwala, associate professor of hospitality management/culinary arts, Charles R. Niedermyer, instructor of baking and pastry arts/culinary arts, and Danna M. Brooks, dining services manager.

In the baking lab, visiting teens pause from whisking the ingredients for crème brulee.

Suchwala leads participants in making Spaetzle.

A young culinarian pushes dough through a perforated pan to form Spaetzle noodles.

No seeds!

Participants dice the main ingredient for strawberry salsa, which was paired with dulce de leche ice cream to represent Spain on the international menu for the program’s culminating dinner.