Students Test Their Skills

Students in the Engineering Graphics Technology program tested their skills and knowledge on Wednesday, April 27 by competing in the Ninth Annual Marshmallow Catapult Competition. Design teams built custom catapults, based on their own design drawings, that tossed marshmallows as far as 50 feet. The team with the highest total distance after three tosses was declared the winner. CN2’s news video shows the students and their catapults in action!

Susan Sherlock is to be commended for her initiative and innovation to engage students. Many thanks to Ginger Dewey, Frank Caldwell, Lee Craig, David LeGrande, Nora Othman, Cree Stout and Tom Dickerson for volunteering at the event.

Welding Program Receives AWS SENSE Certification

The College’s welding program has just received two important designations through the American Welding Society (AWS). The College is now a designated AWS Educational Institution Member. In recognition of this status, the AWS has provided two plaques for the main campus and the Chester Center. Most importantly, our welding programs (main campus and Chester Center) are now AWS SENSE Certified for Level I and Level II Welders. SENSE stands for Schools Excelling through National Skills Standards Education.

Our next step is to become an AWS Accredited Testing Facility. This will allow us to test our students to American Welding Society (AWS) criteria and certify the student upon successful completion of the exam. The student could then market themselves as an AWS Certified Welder.

I appreciate the hard work of Rich Santoro (pictured right), Hezekiah Barnette (pictured left), and Mike Brumbach for receiving these designations for the College’s welding program.

JRCERT ACCREDITATION

Congratulations to our Radiologic Technology program on the continuation of accreditation granted by the Joint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology (JRCERT). The JRCERT is the only agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education for the accreditation of traditional and distance delivery educational programs in radiography, radiation therapy, magnetic resonance, and medical dosimetry. The program was evaluated according to the Standards for an Accredited Educational Program in Radiography. The program received full accreditation in 2007, with no recommendations, for the maximum term of eight years. The recent site visit was an interim, self-study report, for which they again received no recommendations. Radiologic Technology is scheduled for a full study again in 2015.

I’m proud of the efforts displayed by our faculty, in particular Michele Wells and Kim Ford, to provide a quality educational program for our students. Thank you for all you do.

Parking Lot A Expansion

Soon, you will begin to hear the sound of backhoes and cement trucks. This is the exciting and long-anticipated sound of parking expansion! It is no secret that our campus has had a deficit in parking space. With overflow parking housed at the Hood Center, having students, faculty and staff shuttled back and forth during peak times has not been an easy process. I want to thank you all for your cooperation and patience. I’m happy to say, the wait is almost over!

J.E. Dunn Construction Company will begin work on Monday morning, April 4. We anticipate the project will be substantially complete on July 3, with final completion scheduled for August 2, just in time for our fall 2011 students.

The new parking lot, containing an additional 165 parking spaces, will be located on the south end of the main campus, where the Lineworker Program was formerly located. The Lineworker Program has been moved to the Heavy Equipment Operations site in Chester County. I am proud of our College personnel and the students who pitched in to make this move happen smoothly and in less than four weeks. That was quite an accomplishment.

As can be expected with any construction project, traffic and pedestrian flow may need to be rerouted at various times. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your patience. As we begin new construction projects in the future, some parking will be used for those facilities. The goal will be to plan for additional parking as we build.