A second week of camps, featuring an equally tantalizing menu of opportunities spread among eight more programs, convenes in mid-July. Registrants for both weeks hail from 14 states – some from as far away as Connecticut, Florida and Virginia – and include a camper from Santiago, Chile!
Don't think high school students are the only ones in on the fun, however! Pre-College Programs include My Tomorrow, a middle school career exploration day camp sponsored by the Soars family, from June 28 to July 1 and July 12-15.
– Photos by Jennifer A. Cline, writer/magazine editor; Cindy Davis Meixel, writer/photo editor;
Tom Wilson, writer/editor-PCToday; and Chef Mary G. Trometter, assistant professor of hospitality management/culinary arts
... and, once outside, climb aboard the "Huey" for a closer look?
Instructors Michael Damiani (left) and Michael R. Robison (in blue shirt) guide their crew through the startup of the Boeing 727 ...
... as a camper, properly shielded from the din, takes cellphone video of an engine.
Jason K. Bogle (at left background), the college's director of construction and planning, leads a group tour of renovations underway at the Physician Assistant Center. Accompanying the campers is architecture instructor Daniel L. Brooks (in blue hard hat).
Naim N. Jabbour, assistant professor of architecture, encourages high schoolers to balance the practical and the artistic in their designs: "Think like poets," he said, "and react like engineers."
Using SketchUp and other 3D modeling software, campers were challenged to design their "dream house."
How many teenagers get to wheel a retired Bell UH-1B military helicopter from an airport hangar ...
An ASPIE camper considers his design options on monitors in the Dr. Welch Workshop: A Makerspace at Penn College.
Katie L. Mackey, assistant director of disability and access resources, assists a young guest in forming a notebook with a comb-binding machine.
ASPIE participants then customized their notebooks with stickers created with a vinyl cutter and the guidance of Kat A. Valentine, manager of makerspace operations.
Making his way across the Challenge Course, a youngster receives support from course facilitator Cooley and Connections Links (orientation leaders).
All smiles and increased confidence! An ASPIE student is “all in” on the Fish Real Estate Leadership Challenge Course, much to the delight of Rob Cooley (left), associate professor of anthropology and environmental science, and Meghan R. Delsite Coleman, assistant director of student engagement (at right).
Blending reverie and reality, young architects put the "studio" into their "studiousness."
Being among the first to board a retired FedEx freight carrier, a student finds ample room for a souvenir snap.
Gauging from this student's smile, automotive camp passed inspection!
Pre-College Program students don’t just get under the hood – they get under the whole car! Mike M. Faryniak Jr., automotive instructor, engages his young charges in casual (yet constructive) converation.
Girl power in the automotive lab!
The science behind electric cars is covered by instructor Eric D. Pruden in one of the college’s expansive automotive technology labs.
Out of the lab and onto the lot! Automotive participants went for a spin, navigating a traffic cone-laden landscape.
A camper obliges a photographer’s request to “smile for the camera” next to a Wildcat mini-car.
The alluring glow – and promise – of technology
A future made by hand ... today!
The wave of the flag signals a colleague to start the stopwatch, timing vehicles on West Third Street to calculate their speed ...
... and replicate the teamwork of civil engineers in determining traffic patterns and designing safe highways.
A young welder’s miniature metal sculpture receives some finishing touches with the help of instructor Timothy S. Turnbach ...
... before they were joined by another Engineering Pre-College Program participant for a photo. These young engineers-in-training traveled to campus from their homes in Florida, as did another friend who enrolled in the Architecture Odyssey program.
A representative of Construction Specialties, one of several industry speakers to offer their expertise to engineering campers, talks to the group in College Avenue Labs.
Step 1: chopping vegetables for an eventual Italian feast for the campers’ families in Le Jeune Chef Restaurant.
Chef Charles R. Niedermyer, instructor of baking and pastry arts/culinary arts, teaches Future Restaurateurs participants about making a gelee …
… before campers carefully layer it atop their panna cotta – an Italian custard dessert.
A camper shows off the food art that will enhance the camp-ending buffet dinner: a rose formed from cold cuts.
The final touch: Adding a piped chocolate garnish to a plate of tiramisu.
The chefs-in-training get a taste of modern cuisine and food science, using liquid nitrogen to serve familiar foods in new ways.
Pilot Scott Slade (left) and flight nurse Faith Worthington answer the questions of Health Careers Campers during a stop by a Life Flight medical evacuation helicopter on the Madigan Library lawn.
Girls check out the insides – and accommodate a photographer’s request.
Physician assistant student Kathryn A. Plankenhorn, of Montoursville, serves as the patient while teaching Health Careers participants to apply a cast.
Kori-Ann A. Taylor (center), a physician assistant student from Williamsport, walks a duo through the steps of making a splint.
Participants check their balance in the Physical Therapist Assistant Lab.
A new crew on the Wildcat campus!
Diana M. Gaglione (left), of Williamsport, who – along with Rodrigo Barrios-Piedra – served as a student assistant for the Architecture Odyssey program, helps a camper during the hands-on exercise. Gaglione and Barrios-Piedra, of Avondale, are seniors in building science and sustainable design: architectural technology concentration, and are among the college's Built Environment Scholars chosen under a National Science Foundation grant.