The success of a welding graduate is highlighted in the latest video added to Pennsylvania College of Technology’s YouTube channel.
The nearly three-minute video, which can be viewed at http://youtu.be/77uVVJ6vt0E, centers on Westley A. Smith, a welding engineer for Appellation Pre-Fab in Montoursville.
Throughout the video, Smith, of Mifflinburg, describes deep appreciation for his Penn College education, which opened the door to tremendous career opportunities in the welding field. He graduated in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in welding and fabrication engineering technology.
Smith also provides an overview of his responsibilities at Appellation Pre-Fab. The company is a pipeline fabricator, mainly serving the burgeoning natural gas industry throughout the region.
In addition to the bachelor’s degree in welding and fabrication engineering technology earned by Smith, Penn College offers an associate degree in welding technology and a certificate in welding.
The bachelor’s degree leads to a wide variety of careers, including engineering, research, inspection and teaching. Diverse positions for associate-degree welding grads include welding technician and welding supervisor. Course work for the associate degree is transferrable to the bachelor degree major. Students who earn a welding certificate often work in construction welding, shipbuilding, and industrial and production welding. All the welding programs can lead to careers in the natural gas sector.
Smith earned several honors during his time at Penn College. He was a national scholarship recipient from the American Welding Society and was one of six students nationwide selected to compete at the organization’s Weld-Off. Smith won gold at the SkillsUSA Pennsylvania Leadership and Skills Conference and placed third in national competition.
A dean’s list student, Smith received the Penn College Welding Faculty Award, which is presented to the welding major who exemplifies the college philosophy of excellence.
Kathleen K. Hart, of Binghamton, N.Y., a Web design and multimedia bachelor degree major at Penn College, edited Smith’s alumni video profile. Hart serves as a student video production assistant in the College Information and Community Relations Office.
The Penn College YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/penncollegevideos, has collected more than 368,000 video views since debuting in 2009. The channel offers student and alumni features, news items and unique college stories. It also includes full-length episodes of the college’s award-winning, career-awareness public television series, “degrees that work.tv.”
To learn more about welding majors and other academic programs offered by the School of Industrial and Engineering Technologies at Penn College, visit www.pct.edu/schools/iet or call 570-327-4520.
For more about Penn College, visit www.pct.edu, email admissions@pct.edu or call 800-367-9222.