On April 11th, JHS and EJHS students took a field trip to the Pennsylvania College of Technology for a campus tour. After a lengthy bus ride that was perfect for listening to most of System of a Down’s discography, we arrived at the school in Williamsport and poured into the lobby. Even in an area as simple as that, a sense of community was in the air—whether that be the diverse student body walking around, the flags of different nations strewn about, the many programs advertised on the walls, or various panels advertising Ramadan and Pride. We decided to split from the EJ students and stepped outside into a surprisingly cold atmosphere to tour the campus with our guide. We were introduced to several facilities like the automotive building, recreational center, and community culinary building, learning about the several programs and clubs Penn Tech offered. Unfortunately, the health services room—which we wanted to tour—was occupied with students studying for what will probably be a very stressful test. One of the most noteworthy sights was the fountain dedicated to World War II veterans, who were some of the first students to attend Penn Tech. The campus grounds felt like a celebration of Penn Tech students of the present and past. A ton of what we saw was built and maintained by them harmoniously. We split off from our tour guide to see what the Army had to offer as the day warmed up. After a quick thirty minutes of watching a helicopter land, collecting free stuff, vehicle tours, important army man information, and mascot handshaking, it was time to head inside and get into some chemistry. Polymer science was the subject of the day, and it was applied in the process of creating neat little keychains from plastic that everyone got to take home. Not only were we taught that plastics could be an application of chemistry, but also other fields. For example, we were shown that chemistry can be used to create all kinds of wacky foods. That certainly got us hungry, so it was off to the cafeteria to satiate ourselves! All-you-can-cram-down-your-gullet foods were there for us to devour free of charge, and boy was it a fine dining experience. The cuisine consisted of pizza, curly fries, burritos, cookies, ice cream, fountain drinks, and lava brownie cupcakes, and I can guarantee you that I ate probably much more than I could handle. No regrets. Once we finished eating like royalty, we concluded our trip with a nice little dorm room tour. Each space is built for four people and comes with all the bells, whistles, and several closets you’d want in a dorm room. It was time to get back on the bus and say bye-bye to Williamsport, and we returned to Juniata just in time to catch the last six minutes of the eighth period. A fun trip overall, and even if some of us weren’t moved to enroll in Penn Tech, we certainly enjoyed the free food and the day off from school.
