Wednesday, January 21, 2026
photos by Tom Speicher, writer/video producer
WNEP-TV reporter Mackenzie Aucker (left) speaks with Gwynn E. Johnson, a sophomore from Verona, Virginia, who expresses appreciation for having access to a newly installed industrial crane system.
WNEP-TV’s Mackenzie Aucker visited Penn College’s 55,000-plus-square-foot welding facility on Tuesday to see a new crane in action.
Spanco/Promise to Perform Industries Inc. and KAM Industrial Services teamed to donate and install the crane system, located above a Soitaab computer numerical control plasma cutter.
Michael R. Allen, instructor and co-department head of welding, and three students – Payton M. Crawford, Gwynn E. Johnson and Luke J. Engler – demonstrated for Auker how the crane is used to secure and transfer material onto the plasma cutter.
Auker interviewed Allen, Johnson and Shanin L. Dougherty, senior corporate relations officer, for the story that can be viewed on WNEP’s website.
Students Luke J. Engler (left) and Johnson use the crane to guide sheet metal to its destination: the plasma cutter.
Get Penn College News in your inbox each morning.