This is the fourth article in a series about Pennsylvania Technical College: Degrees That Work.
Penn College is not only committed to its current students, but it has a vision for tomorrow’s students. While I was visiting the college, I had a conversation with a middle school teacher who had brought some her students to work in the computer lab. It was a yearly tradition for her and afterwards many of her students decided to attend Penn College.
The college offers opportunities for young people to help them discover careers that interest them and get some hands-on work with the professors in the process. In the spring and the fall, they host a career day for over 1000 middle-school students. The event is designed to give participants a taste of a variety of 
career options, which will help them make informed decisions about their future education. In a program funded by the U.S. Department of Education, seventh and eighth graders in an after-school program visit the college once a week to explore career options. In the spring, Penn College offered more hands-on activities for children and their families at a Science Festival. The math and science demonstrations were geared toward elementary and middle school students, in an effort to make learning fun.
Summer Career Events
In the summer, Penn College has various events scheduled for students to give them more information about various careers that will help them decide a career path after high school graduation.
Business for the 21st Century Career Camp
This two-day camp introduces students entering grades 9-12 to a variety of digital marketing and sports & event management and promotion career areas. Students will receive information on management and marketing skills relating to sports, events, and digital marketing along with hands-on workshops.
Designing a Digital Future Camp
This two-day camp introduces students entering grades 10-12 to a variety of digital media-based careers. Participants will receive information on gaming, web, and graphic design careers along with hands-on workshops developing personal games, mobile applications, and Lego robots.
Future Restaurateurs Career Camp
This two-day camp introduces students entering grades 9-12 to a variety of hands-on demonstrations and explores careers in baking & pastry arts, culinary arts, and hospitality management. Students participate in menu planning and dining etiquette workshops as well as developing kitchen and baking skills.
This two-day camp introduces students entering grades 9-12 to a variety of health careers who also tour health facilities and network with current students and faculty as well as health employees.
Penn College developed Science and Math Applications in Real-World Technologies (SMART) Girls to counter an alarming academic and social trend: girls tend to shy away from math and sciences as they enter adolescence and their important high school years. SMART Girls provides young females the opportunity to experience math and science as a foundation for careers in technology. It offers young girls, in grades 9-11, the opportunity to experience math and science as a foundation for careers in technology. Hands-on experiences will range from crushing concrete (working with compression strength) to cyber challenges (creating Web pages).
Creativity Camp at Penn College provides kids entering grades 4 – 6 the chance to explore art and creativity through a variety of art media. Campers work with professional artists to produce unique works of art, focus on the creative process, and develop their imagination and creativity.
Youth Training for Athletic Development Camp
The program format is specific to youth training based on National Strength and Conditioning Association (NCSA) guidelines, and is taught by Penn College Physical Fitness Specialist faculty. Participants in the camp learn injury prevention, technique fundamentals, sport-specific training, nutrition education, agility and speed progression, functional training, and resistance training.
Degrees That Work TV
Early exposure to technology and emerging career fields helps prepare students for rewarding futures. Educators (grades 7-12) are encouraged to use episodes of degrees that work.tv and corresponding free lesson planning guides to help make that connection. Each 28-minute episode of the documentary series reveals interesting stories and valuable information related to the U.S. Department of Education’s career clusters, which provide career awareness and direction for students.
Check out the other articles in the Degrees That Work series:
- Planning for a Career, Not Just A Job
- A Working World Within a College
- One College’s Best Kept Secret
Taking participation in different career events will enable us to experience different careers and help us to make more wise decisions about our further education.Thank you for sharing.