Diesel Technology & Natural Resources Articles

The annual Poinsettia Sale at Penn College’s Schneebeli Earth Science Center greenhouse begins on Monday, Dec. 9. Sale hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday while the inventory lasts. (The center is closed Saturday and Sunday.) According to the greenhouse elves, a variety of colors are available. Small poinsettias are $8, with large ones priced at $10.

Groff Tractor & Equipment has loaned advanced John Deere equipment that is benefiting Pennsylvania College of Technology students in the heavy construction equipment technology majors. A John Deere 550K dozer and John Deere 544G wheel loader were donated for use for the Summer and Fall 2024 semesters. Six Penn College classes are gaining hands-on exposure to the equipment.

Pennsylvania College of Technology’s Diesel Performance Club has captured another first place in drag race competition. The club's 1959 B-61 Mack drag truck, known as “Accelerated Learning,” won top honors in the “Big Rig Auto” bracket at the October Truck Fest at Island Dragway in Great Meadows, New Jersey. That victory qualified the truck for the “King of the Island” bracket race, where it finished in second place.

In the two and a half weeks since ground was broken for a Habitat for Humanity home just north of campus – on a Fifth Avenue property donated to Greater Lycoming Habitat for Humanity by Penn College – students in building construction and heavy construction equipment technology majors have made six visits to the site.

WNEP-TV reporter Mackenzie Aucker and photojournalist Tom Durant visited Pennsylvania College of Technology Wednesday to conduct interviews and capture footage for a feature on the college's diesel drag truck. The report aired on the local ABC affiliate's 5 p.m. newscast. Among those interviewed was Brad R. Conklin, instructor of diesel equipment technology, who was also interviewed by WNEP 24 years ago when he was a student working on the rig in its earliest days.

Racing against the “fastest trucks in the East,” Pennsylvania College of Technology’s 1959 B-61 Model Mack drag truck claimed first place in the Diesel Big Rig Bracket 1 division and finished second in the “King of the Hill” grand finale at the Keystone Truckin’ Nationals, held Sept. 21 at Maple Grove Raceway in Berks County. This is the first No. 1 finish in a sanctioned competition for the college’s Diesel Performance Club and its truck, aptly named “Accelerated Learning.”

"We won! We won!" enthused Mark E. Sones, a faculty adviser for the Diesel Performance Club of Pennsylvania College of Technology. The club's 1959 B-61 Model Mack drag truck, appropriately named "Accelerated Learning," captured first place in the B1-Big Truck fast class division on Saturday at the Keystone Truckin' Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway near Reading. Watch Penn College News for more coverage of this celebrated accomplishment!

Pennsylvania College of Technology joined Greater Lycoming Habitat for Humanity on Sept. 19 to break ground at 508 Fifth Ave., where, over the next two years, Penn College students will build a Habitat home on land donated to the organization by the college. “This is such a win-win project,” said Bob Robinson, executive director of Greater Lycoming Habitat for Humanity.

“Accelerated Learning," the 1959 B-61 Model Mack drag truck operated by the Diesel Performance Club of Pennsylvania College of Technology is competing Saturday in the Keystone Truckin’ Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway, 15 miles southeast of Reading. "This is a huge event, with over 1,000 trucks and 10,000 spectators anticipated to attend," said Mark E. Sones, a club adviser and diesel equipment technology instructor. "This will be our greatest exposure!"

Among the learning opportunities for educators this summer at Pennsylvania College of Technology was the inaugural Diesel Career & Technical Education Teachers Externship, attracting 13 instructors from Connecticut, Maryland and Pennsylvania. The two-day, immersive professional development opportunity was designed for CTE instructors to collaborate with their contemporaries, explore advancements in the field and remain on the cutting edge of instruction in the diesel discipline.