Home is where the heart is
Wednesday, May 21, 2025
Photos by Jennifer Cline, writer/magazine editor
At the first backyard picnic at a home being built for the Greater Lycoming Habitat for Humanity, hot dogs are grilled and Penn College students point out their contributions at the service learning site.
A home on Fifth Avenue hosted its first backyard picnic to close out the first of two years of service learning at the site.
The Greater Lycoming Habitat for Humanity home is being built largely by Penn College students on land donated by the college. The three-bedroom structure, started in Fall 2024 and expected to be completed in Spring 2026, will provide a safe, sustainable home for a deserving family.
Hands-on work on the home has coincided with class objectives in building construction technology; concrete science technology; electrical construction; heating, ventilation & air conditioning technology; and heavy construction equipment technology: operator emphasis. Students from other programs have volunteered, as well.
“Working here doesn’t compare with working in the labs,” said Jonah C. Horner, of Johnstown, adding that knowing a family will someday live in the structure they are building boosts students' motivation.
The Spring 2025 semester saw students, led by faculty, add shingles; windows; soffit; wiring and the main electrical control panel; a heat pump, duct work and energy recovery ventilator; a concrete sidewalk and driveway; and brickwork.
"Work on the house has gone extremely well, so we wanted to celebrate with the entire team and give the students who’ve worked on the home this year a shirt to memorialize their participation,” said Ellyn A. Lester, assistant dean of construction and architectural technologies. “I was so happy that everyone came over to celebrate and tour our progress, including Habitat’s leadership. This year has been so rewarding for everyone involved!”
Construction director for Greater Lycoming Habitat for Humanity is Andy Hamelly, a 2007 Penn College residential construction technology & management graduate.
For more on the project, two articles were published in Fall 2024, including one on the groundbreaking and a construction update.
Penn College students show off their commemorative shirts, distributed to celebrate those who've worked on the service learning project during the 2024-25 academic year. From left: Jen L. Molter, of Palmyra; Jonah C. Horner, of Johnstown, and Tyler A. Craig, of Perkasie.
President Michael J. Reed congratulates students and faculty on their work at the Fifth Avenue home.
At the year-end celebration, Courtney E. Dunne (left), coordinator of academic engagement for the School of Engineering Technologies, and Angela C. Hakes, office assistant to the school, joyfully distribute T-shirts to some of the many students who've worked on the home.
Cassandra Guiffre, of Russell, cuts an opening for a bedroom window.
With guidance from Lezzer Lumber employees, a student installs a window.
Students set forms at the front of the house.
Brooke Amadoro, of Hamburg, joins a crew adding sheathing to a porch roof.
The electrical construction major’s Construction Lab IV-Practical Experience course lives up to its name as students like Connor Kocsis, of Dickson City, wire the home’s main panel.
Serving as a Habitat volunteer, retired building construction technology faculty member Bob Gresko (standing) oversees the work of masonry students on the front porch.
Elliot M. Dotson, of Wilmington, Del., checks his work.
Students in the Concrete Construction class help a front step take shape ...
... and extend their skills to the sidewalk.
Concrete classmates work on the driveway.
Students shingle the home’s north side ...
... and add soffit.
A heating, ventilation & air conditioning technology student pulls flexible duct into a bedroom.
Habitat Construction Director Andy Hamelly, ’07, finishes up a brick column.
Electrical construction student Trent J. Achey, of Millerton, runs wire.