Middle school students from across Berks County got a chance this week to get an up-close look at the world of engineering.

The Greater Reading Chamber Alliance, the local chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Reading Area Community College and R/C Reading Movies teamed up to celebrate National Engineers Week. They presented an event for students designed to expose them to the world of engineering.

Throughout the week, students traveled to the IMAX theater on North Second Street to view the film "Dream Big: Engineering Our World." Afterward, they headed to RACC to check out engineering demonstrations and career exploration tables with local employers, colleges and universities.

Reading Area Community College student Kaiya Kizuka became the U.S. champion in the parallel slalom Tuesday by being the highest placed American in the event at the FIS World Snowboard Championships in Park City, Utah.

The event is the highest level of snowboarding competition during a non-Olympic year.
Kizuka trains with Ski Roundtop Race Club in Lewisberry, PA and competes in the Open Class level at national and international FIS events as she tries to secure a spot on the World Cup circuit and qualify for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Kaiya graduated Magna Cum Laude from the STEM and Performing Arts Academies at Wilson High School. She received the Presidential Scholarship and is attending Reading Area Community College where she is enrolled in the RACC/Bucknell engineering program.

During the 2017/2018 snowboard season Kaiya competed nationally in the NorAm “Race to the Cup” snowboard series. At the end of the season she had earned enough FIS points to be ranked among the top junior women open class athletes in the United States. 

She has been a member of the U.S. Junior World team the last two years.

Written by Jeff McGaw/ReadingEagle

Reading, PA — Six web professionals sitting in judgement, five teams of creative up-and-coming web designers, and a prize to the team that best figures out how to transform a relatively ugly duckling website into a beautiful high-tech swan.

Reading Area Community College's web application development program hosted a presentation and awards event Sunday at the Miller Center for the Arts for its first web design challenge.

It was a "Project Runway"-like competition, but rather than asking designers to create wearable fashion from grocery store food, the contest challenged them to use their computer coding skills to redesign the website for the Berks County Community Foundation's Jump Start Incubator program.

That seven-year-old program helps entrepreneurs get started in business.

In the end, the Blue Bats, a team of four students from the Berks Career & Technology Center, earned top honors.

Four teams from Reading Muhlenberg Career & Technology Center also competed in the event, which drew dozens of parents, school faculty members and others.

"It was very close," said Jason Brudereck, director of marketing and communications for the community foundation and one of six judges. "There was a lot of debate among the judges."

Jump Start has helped 50 companies launch. Of those, 31 are minority or woman-owned, and the 42 that are still in business employed 121 people and combined for $2 million in revenues in 2017.

That success came despite a website described by some of the students as "bland," "basic," "boring" and "static."

"We had to take away the key points of the old website," said Sean Bachman, who along with Rebecca Davis, David Rohweder and Analee Weichert formed the winning Blue Bats team. "Then we had to kick it up a notch."

After working for several months, teams presented their work to the judges, a key part of the experience, said Brian Savage, RACC's website application development program coordinator.

"Anybody can go make a pretty website," Savage said, "but what makes a great web application developer is someone who can solve business problems in a pretty way, in a friendly way, with a user interface that will allow companies to go forward and gain in efficiencies."

"It's a whole other thing when you have to stand up and show the people who are going to possibly buy what you did," said Adrianna Rivera, a competitor from Reading Muhlenberg. "If you're confident in your work, you have to show that confidence on stage as well."

"I wasn't really worried about the technical aspect of it," said Isaac Freeman, a software engineer at JPMorgan Chase & Co., and one of the judges. "It was more like. 'What was their presentation like? What is the client looking to accomplish through this medium? Did the contestants execute it?' That's pretty much what we judged on.

"Yeah, a pretty website is nice. But functionality is key at the end of the day."

Jackson, Mississippi — Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society (PTK) will recognize 25 college presidents with the Paragon Award for New Presidents during PTK Catalyst 2019, the Society’s annual convention, April 4-6 in Orlando, Florida. Reading Area Community College President Susan D. Looney, J.D, Ed.D., who began her presidency in July 2018, will be honored among those receiving this prestigious award.

The Paragon Awards are given to new college presidents who have shown strong support of student success by recognizing academic achievement, leadership, and service among high-achieving students at their college. Recipients were nominated for the award by the students on their campus. PTK students have a 91 percent student success rate, and research has shown that strong presidential leadership and support of PTK increases member success and the depth of their college experience. 

The Paragon Award for New Presidents marks a special accomplishment for Dr. Looney. “I am completely humbled to be honored by PTK, an organization that has meant so much to me over the course of my community college career,” says Dr. Looney. She has received a Paragon Award when a PTK student and again when she was a PTK advisor.  
Dr. Looney joined RACC in 2014 as dean of instruction and was appointed to senior vice president of academic affairs/provost in 2015.  

The Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society recognizes academic achievement of community college students and provides opportunities for them to grow as scholars and leaders. For more information about Phi Theta Kappa at Reading Area Community College, please call 610.372.4721.

This story was originally released on Jan. 30 by 69 News and published by WFMZ.com.

Reading Area Community College senior Kaiya Kizuka stands ready to represent the United States on the world stage of snowboarding.

Kaiya has been invited to compete at the 2019 FIS World Snowboard Championships in Utah as a member of the U.S. Snowboard Team. The Lower Heidelberg Township, Berks County woman will be competing in both the parallel slalom and parallel giant slalom events on February 4th and 5th.

The event is the highest level of snowboarding competition during a non-Olympic year, and many of the competitors are current World Cup and Olympic athletes.

Kaiya started to snowboard at the age of four and began racing regionally eight years later in 2011. She now trains with the Ski Roundtop Race Club, racing in the open class level at national and international FIS events.

For the last two years, Kaiya has been a member of the U.S. Junior World Snowboard Championship (JWSC) team, competing in the Czech Republic and New Zealand.

"Kaiya has persistently climbed the ladder of Alpine Snowboard Racing in the United States. Her invitation to World Championships is a result of dedication, sacrifice, and hard work," said Neil Sunday, who will be one of the coaches with Kaiya on the race course during the event. "It was only a matter of time before this opportunity presented itself; it shows that with hard work, sacrifice and dedication to your sport, you can achieve great things."

After the World Snowboard Championships, Kaiya said she hopes to travel with the JWSC team one more time to Rogla, Slovenia, in her last year of eligibility for the JWSC.

"Kaiya is a talented athlete with a lot of potential. Over the past years, I have had the pleasure of competing with her, mentoring her, and coaching her in and out of the gym," said Robby Burns, Kaiya's Project Gold and strength coach. "I am excited to watch her grow, as an individual and an athlete into a career that is only just beginning."

Kaiya, a 2017 graduate of Wilson High School, is in her final semester of the engineering program at RACC. She will graduate in May with an associate's degree.