Welding Articles

Pennsylvania College of Technology will expand its opportunities in welding education, thanks to a donation from Chesapeake Energy Corp. Chesapeake Energy presented Penn College with a check for $25,000 to purchase an engine-driven Lincoln welder, as well as a pipe beveling machine and associated supplies. Chesapeake also donated a supply of pipe for use in welding education.

Three Pennsylvania College of Technology students were among the medalists at SkillsUSA's 47th annual National Leadership and Skills Conference held June 19-24 in Kansas City, Mo. Placing third in their respective events were Aaron C. Dressler, Mount Pleasant Mills, Automotive Refinishing; Micah E. Hoover, Souderton, Welding; and Lewis D. Robinson, Bellefonte, Culinary Arts.

"Made in Central PA," a manufacturers' showcase of the products and career opportunities available in Penn College's nine-county back yard, was held Thursday on main campus. About a dozen people including teachers and counselors from area high schools, as well as representatives of regional career and technology centers attended.

Four Pennsylvania College of Technology students will receive scholarship awards of $3,000 each, thanks to The John Deere Foundation. Tyler S. Caldwell, of Manchester; Micah E. Hoover, of Souderton; Derek T. Ban, of Charlotte, N.C.; and Justin T. Nupp, of South Williamsport, are the recipients of awards from the John Deere Foundation Scholarship for 2011-12.

Penn College hosted the third annual Welding Educators Summit on April 8. Included in the day's activities and discussions were a tour of the college's renovated welding facilities and an opportunity to ask questions of a panel of Penn College students about the transition from high school to a postsecondary welding program. Student panelists were Nicholas A. Anderson, Paul A. Boehret, Tyler S.

The well-appointed welding labs of Penn College's Avco-Lycoming Metal Trades Center were the venue for Friday's annual American Welding Society competition involving 20 students from the college's School of Industrial and Engineering Technologies and five each from Columbia Montour Area Vocational-Technical School, SUN Area Technical School and Williamsport Area High School.

Nicholas A. Anderson, a welding and fabrication engineering technology major from Warren, is the Student Government Association's latest Student of the Month at Pennsylvania College of Technology. An active participant in Penn College's Greek community, he is the treasurer of his fraternity Chi Phi and serves as vice president of finance for the Inter-Fraternity Council.

Pennsylvania College of Technology received a grant to continue as a Weld-Ed Regional Center in establishing the National Center for Welding Education and Training. Penn College is one of 10 regional partners for the National Science Foundation project, which began in 2007 and is led by Lorain County (Ohio) Community College. Its region includes 12 states and the District of Columbia.

The John Deere Foundation has provided Pennsylvania College of Technology with another grant of $12,000 to support scholarships for students in the college's welding and fabrication engineering technology bachelor-degree major and welding technology associate-degree major in 2010-11.

A welding student at Pennsylvania College of Technology recently completed a senior project that will benefit students in another Penn College department. Matthew C. Kline, a welding and fabrication engineering technology student from Whitehall, produced new weight racks for the training rooms used by students majoring in physical fitness specialist and by students taking other fitness classes.