Tuesday, October 6, 2026
photos by Rob Hinkal, social media specialist
Pennsylvania Sen. Scott Martin (13th Senate District, second from left) chats with a student outside Penn College’s Davie Jane Gilmour Center during an Oct. 1 tour of Penn College. He is joined by college President Michael J. Reed (left) and Erin Wachter (second from right), director of state relations for Penn State.
Pennsylvania Sen. Scott Martin (13th Senate District) visited Penn College on Oct. 1 to tour its labs and learn more about its unique hands-on education model.
Martin is chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and helped to author the law that created the Grow PA Scholarship Grant Program to encourage more young people to pursue careers in high-demand industries. He was accompanied on the tour by Chad Weaver, chief of staff for the 13th Senate District; John Guyer, executive director of the state Senate Appropriations Committee; Nick McClure, assistant executive director of the committee; Kirsta Hair, the committee’s policy director; senate budget analysts Russ Miller and Billy Joraskie; state Sen. Gene Yaw, 23rd Senate District and chair of the Penn College Board of Directors; and Matt Wise, district director for the 23rd Senate District.
On main campus, the group toured the Madigan Library, Center for Career Design, Bush Campus Center, Physician Assistant Center, Gene Haas Center for Innovative Manufacturing, Larry A. Ward Machining Technologies Center, Lycoming Engines Metal Trades Center, Williamsport LaunchBox supported by Ken and Kristie Healy, the emergency management & homeland security program’s MILO Range Theater training simulator, baking and culinary labs, and ongoing U.S. Economic Development Administration-supported upgrades to the Carl Building Technologies Center.
They also toured the Schneebeli Earth Science Center’s diesel & power generation and landscape/plant production labs, as well as the forest technology program’s sawmill.
The senator serves parts of Lancaster and Berks counties. It was his second visit to the college. He also visited in 2021, when he was chair of the Senate Education Committee.
President Reed (left) and Kyle A. Smith (right), vice president for college relations, lead Martin (center) and senate staff on a walk through campus.
Valerie A. Myers (third from left), dean of nursing and health sciences, greets the group in the Physician Assistant Center, where labs are designed to replicate real-world healthcare settings and equipment.
Brad M. Webb (right), dean of engineering technologies, showcases student work in the Larry A. Ward Machining Technologies Center.
From left: Reed, Pennsylvania Sen. Gene Yaw, and Martin. Martin serves on the Senate Environmental Resources & Energy Committee, which is chaired by Yaw. Yaw is also chair of the Penn College Board of Directors.
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