Intensive activities spotlight college's career-building majors

"Because tomorrow begins today," Penn College campuses welcomed scores of high school students for six more Pre-College Programs in recent days. (A variety of programs focused on more of the college's academic majors were held in June.) The past week's schedule included three new summer offerings – Diesel Truck & Heavy Equipment, Fundamentals of Emergency Response, and Thingamajig Fabricators – joining returning favorites Automotive Restoration; Design, Build & Grow Landscape & Horticulture; and Graphic Design Summer Studio. All told, the college hosted 211 high schoolers for two sessions of overnight camps this season and 40 middle schoolers during two weeks of My Tomorrow day camps.

– 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 (unless otherwise noted)

Toolboxes and certificates await families attending a closing-day showcase.

"Thingamajig" participants cut out their takeaway toolboxes on the plasma cutter, bent them in the sheet-metal bender and welded them with a robot. They then tacked on the handles with a manual welding process, forming a unique souvenir displayed for their families on the camp's final afternoon.

With a close eye for detail, a student makes auto-body feature lines on one of his model car panels.

An example of the model cars being built provides a template for students working in College Avenue Labs.

Using a grinder – and quite possibly motivated by the larger-scale vehicle "watching" over his shoulder – a teen preps his model for welding.

From paper to computer, participants in the Graphic Design Summer Studio explore a full range of creativity, including workshops on computer graphics, visual communications and production methods.

Leading one of three breakout sessions on the essential element of critique is Kathryn M. Anderson, instructor of graphic design.

The artistic beauty of the graphic design facilities is evident in the Bush Campus Center. Nicholas L. Stephenson (left), instructor of graphic design, guides a critique session with his typical ease and insight.

A lineup of six Model A vehicles rolled onto campus to the delight of the Automotive Restoration Pre-College Program. Members of the local Model A Restorers Club regularly visit campus to share their wisdom (and their wheels) with youngsters.

A cloudburst interrupted a student's enviable opportunity behind the wheel of a donated 1956 Ford Thunderbird convertible, necessitating a quick detour to the garage bay. Joining campers are Eric D. Pruden, automotive instructor, and Brett A. Reasner, assistant dean of transportation technologies.

Adding a few finishing touches to a handcrafted race car

Grounded in theory and ascendant with newly gained knowledge (Photo by Carl J. Bower Jr., assistant professor of horticulture)

Students heat-treat their center punches to harden them ...

... so they could withstand the forceful blows of a hammer.

Seth J. Welshans, laboratory assistant for diesel equipment technology, explains the lay of the land to campers rotating among a series of workstations at the college's operations site in Brady Township.

At the controls of an excavator, it's hands-on all the way!

Diesel equipment technology instructor Chris S. Weaver provides walk-along guidance to a young man operating a crawler excavator.

Assessing his partner's backhoe handiwork, a Diesel Truck & Heavy Equipment camper uses a laser level to measure the grade of a newly dug trench.

Teens in Design, Build & Grow Landscape & Horticulture install pavers around the temporary fire pit that they installed at the Schneebeli Earth Science Center.

What's a summer camp without everyone's favorite wood-fired building project: the three-tier creation that IS the s'more?

High schoolers got a taste of floral design during a Wednesday morning session with Karen R. Ruhl, a part-time member of the horticulture faculty.

Tackling a landscaper's lot, with appropriate mechanical help (Photo by Justin Shelinski, horticulture instructor)

The students also used a manual lathe to make their own center punch and used computer numerical control lathes to make their own hammers.

Kyle G. Stavinski, a 2015 Penn College grad, now a critical care flight paramedic and educator for Geisinger Life Flight and a basic life support (EMT/EMR) instructor for the college, leads a classroom session on the most common first aid emergencies, including how to recognize them and perform lifesaving skills. Participants in the Fundamentals of Emergency Response program earned nationally recognized certifications in Heartsaver First Aid, CPR, AED and Stop the Bleed Tourniquet Training.

Kathy L. Kling, a 2015 Penn College grad and an instructor of basic life support (EMT/EMR) for the college, as well as a paramedic for Susquehanna Regional EMS, explains the pocket mask used to administer CPR before participants try theirs.

Participants place CPR pocket masks on “Little Annie” manikins.

A high schooler in Fundamentals of Emergency Response places the patch for an automatic electronic defibrilator, also part of the training in the college’s paramedic labs.

Working in the Larry A. Ward Machining Technologies Center, the high schoolers all got "PCT" letters cut out. One group got its own initials, as well!

Under the supervision of Howard W. Troup, instructor of automated manufacturing and machine tool technology, the students learn how the Sodick electrical discharge machine works.