The "Alive! Mental Health Fair," hosted by the Office of Student Engagement on Tuesday, welcomed participants into an open conversation about mental illness and warning signs of suicide. For several hours in the Bush Campus Center, students took part in revealing exercises – separating myth from fact, for instance, and giving anonymous voice to fears and concerns – designed to foster a campus atmosphere of hope and help.
Students and employees planted flags, wrote thank-you notes to veterans and first responders, made paper cranes and more during a day of service to remember the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Even in this young semester, one can't help but notice the volume and variety of activities arranged by the Office of Student Engagement. In just the past week, for instance, "Wild, Wild Wildcats" could take a Saturday spin on a bucking bovine, take Tuesday afternoon to check out part-time jobs and everyday adventures at Fall Fusion, and "Taste the World" of global interconnectedness on a glorious Wednesday.
Friday's scheduled "Outdoor Movie Night" was moved indoors by threatening weather, but proved – in spite of the relocation – that dinosaurs (and students' attraction to big-screen entertainment) will never be truly extinct.
Students eased into the fall semester with the help of smoochy pooches and summery refreshment, as Counseling Services reprised its traditional "Hot Dog, You're Here!" event on Wednesday evening. About a dozen Penn College employees brought their canine companions to campus to meet students, the latest edition of a program first offered in August 2010.
Whether the first week of classes or the semester's last, the Office of Student Engagement is on hand to fill those non-studying hours with a range of programming from personal empowerment to flat-out entertainment. Last weekend, for instance, brought opportunities for wheels and squeals alike: The Field House was converted for a Friday "Throwback Roller Skating Night" and the Klump Academic Center Auditorium welcomed comedian/contortionist Jonathan Burns on Saturday.
A pair of campus organizations are partnering on a "Speak Out Social" to raise awareness of domestic violence and sexual assault, as well as donations for the YWCA of Northcentral Pennsylvania's Wise Options floor.
As "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" makes a play for a megashare of the pre-summer box office, the stakes were nearly as high during a recent video-game tournament in the Bush Campus Center TV room.
The Penn College community is invited to join Craig A. Miller, associate professor of history/political science, for a latest in a free series of informal – yet vitally topical – discussions at 6:30 p.m. Monday, April 10.
Eleven of instructor Franklin H. Reber Jr.'s concrete science students, along with two graduates and industry employers, recently attended a seven-hour Nudura Corp. Insulated Concrete Forms certification training at Hoover Industrial Supply in Troy.
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