High school students attend Dual Enrollment Visit Day

Students from three area schools recently visited Penn College for a Dual Enrollment Visit Day that provided a glimpse into the programs offered through the college’s School of Business, Arts & Sciences and School of Engineering Technologies.

Sixty-seven students traveled from Monroe Career & Technical Institute, Bartonsville; Sullivan County High School, Laporte; and Eastern York High School, Wrightsville, to explore a full agenda covering topics like “Exploring Disasters,” “CAD (Designing a Handheld Vacuum),” “Electrical: It’s More than Just Wiring,” “Electronics,” “Career Services: Choosing a Major” and “E-Sports.” A Penn College Experts Panel was also built into the day, allowing students to learn about Residence Life, the Office of Student Engagement, the Center for Career Design, the Center for Academic Excellence and Athletics.

“The purpose behind our Dual Enrollment Visit Days is to provide opportunities for students in high schools, CTCs and CTEs the chance to interact with our faculty and staff, engage in hands-on learning opportunities and experience what the next step in the career pathway can look like at Penn College,” said Cody R. Pavlick, coordinator of secondary partnerships outreach. “By stepping into Penn College labs, using industry-level equipment and interacting directly with faculty, students can see how the concepts they learn in high school come to life in our program’s environments.”

Firsthand experience, he added, is a great way to help students understand the relevance of their dual enrollment coursework and provides a clear vision of how that coursework can support future college and career goals.

“Thanks to the hard work of everyone involved and a collective team effort, the event exceeded our expectations,” Pavlick said. “The students were highly engaged and were asking excellent questions that were relevant to their academic pursuits.”

Each of the four Dual Enrollment Visit Days that take place throughout the year focuses on a specific school or program area at Penn College. The School of Nursing and Health Sciences Dual Enrollment Visit Day will be held Feb. 19, with Rotorfest and the Earth Science Center both slated for April.

Penn College Dual Enrollment works with 71 secondary partners across Pennsylvania, allowing 2,100-plus high school students to earn nearly 7,900 Penn College credits. Most of the courses are technical in nature, providing a career pipeline for skilled technicians and technologists that are in demand by business and industry throughout Pennsylvania.