Student of the Year Award Recipients

The PennACE Joanne Day Student of the Year (SOTY) selection committee is pleased to announce the recipients of

the 2022 awards:

Liberal Arts: Brian Standfest, Museum Studies and History Major at Juniata College

Internship: East Broad Top Railroad (EBT) Archives as The East Broad Top Railroad, Archives and Special Collections Intern

“The EBT Preservation of Architectural and Engineering Maps and Drawings Project Internship allowed Brian to work intimately with an inestimable number of historical maps and drawings created by the East Broad Top Railroad during its operations, 1856-1956. Brian' s primary role was to continue adding data to an existing maps and drawings inventory and create new inventory spreadsheets that captured additional “descriptive metadata” from various maps and drawings needing inventorying. These additions included map measurements, defining subject groups and the scope of collections eras, recording material conditions for conservation treatment, and identifying print mediums and characteristics. Brian was responsible for entering accurate data and preparing inventoried maps and drawings for scanning, which included sorting by subject matter, general physical cleaning, and collection storage. His quality of work and the number of maps and drawings inventoried – over 1000 – fulfilled the NRHS Heritage Grant match activity required. Other components of his educational outcomes included developing a data dictionary, which defined each field of data and writing a Standardized Operating Procedure (SOP) to document the workflow of inventorying the maps and drawings. I have adopted these documents to help train future volunteers. An integral part of educational outreach, Brian participated in various railroad events and tours that showcased archival materials. He published an article about his internship experience in the Friends of the East Broad Top, Inc. (FEBT) monthly newsletter titled, “Working as a Summer 2022 Intern for the East Broad Top Railroad Archives and Special Collections,” which was distributed online to over 1800 members. Brian’s final internship activities included: an introduction to cataloging in the collections management system PastPerfect Web Edition and scanning a series of small blueprints. Brian’s contribution to the EBTRR ASC was phenomenal and had a tremendous impact on the new archives established in 2021. His skilled participation has also added to building a critical community partnership with Juniata College faculty and students to hire future interns.” - Julie Rockwell, EBT Archivist, East Broad Top Railroad Archives and Special Collections

Business: Nicolas Dunlap, Business Administration – Marking Major at Central Penn College

Internship: Camp Hebron, Nonprofit, Halifax, PA, Marketing Manager

“Nic was responsible to increase overall support for Camp Hebron programs, capital projects and event planning. Nic was responsible in creating a marketing plan with budget, maintain a calendar of marketing activities, coordinate and implement marketing activities including advertising for summer camp promotions, year-round rentals & event. Nic provided assistance with all 6 Camp Hebron yearly fundraising events, updated website and managed brand identity across all publications both in print and digital. Nic has natural leadership ability for someone so young in a professional role. Working for a nonprofit has many moving parts where flexibility is important. Nic has been gracious in this area in prioritizing what projects need attention first. This can be challenging at times when other staff members need things last minute that were not planned for, but Nic rose to the occasion. Nic gets things done. He strived to keep the brand cohesive in his marketing design and style whether it be social media, the website, or print publications. Nic was responsible to assist with six fundraising events per year and led the "Alumni Night" event from start to finish with little oversight. Nic’s organizational skills brought strength to the camp and resulted in clear branding and marketing. Nic has also done well at fostering relationships. I saw him make a huge impact at Camp Hebron by nurturing relationships with coworkers and maintaining a healthy culture at camp. He will let you know what he is thinking and has those crucial conversations when needed. That was appreciated by myself and other staff members” - Tammy Briggs, Communications Director, Camp Hebron

STEM: Allison Rutledge, Human Biology Major at Chatham University

Internship: Carnegie Museum of Natural History - Invertebrate Zoology (Intern)

“Allie worked with us as a research intern at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History during the summer of 2022, in collaboration with Dr. Erica Baken and Dr. Michael Collyer. She was responsible for specimen handling, data capture, imaging, and image processing for a portion of our recently acquired collection of ~65,000 slide-mounted fleas (as well as assistance in 3-D imaging of darkling and tiger beetles). This is extremely challenging and delicate work which requires attention to detail, particularly in handling (and sometimes repairing) fragile insect specimens. It also entails a great deal of technological troubleshooting. Allie met all of these challenges with

tenacity and ingenuity, as well as careful attention to specimen handling and resourceful use of the available materials for capturing morphological data on a tiny scale. She was a careful imager of flea morphology, consistently capturing research-quality specimen images that will be tremendously valuable for my own work as well as researchers worldwide. Allie volunteered for training to painstakingly glue tiger beetle heads back onto thoraxes herself with special insect repair adhesive. Her training was a success and she managed to catch up on our repair backlog so that damaged specimens could be imaged and returned to their proper places in the collection (I note that the heads of tiger beetles have notably tenuous connections to the thorax and it is not unusual for them to drop off during normal handling—this should not be read as an indictment of Allie’s specimen handling capabilities). Not only was she an enthusiastic research participant, Allie also exhibited tremendous curiosity about beetles, entomology, the ongoing work in Invertebrate Zoology and in the museum as a whole. Her well-written essay about this summer experience is a testament to the curatorial and entomological skills she developed and the excellent contribution she made to our section.” – Dr. Ainsley Seago, Associate Curator of Invertebrate Zoology, Carnegie Museum of Natural History

Each recipient will be presented with a $250.00 check and a certificate of recognition by their respective career

centers.  Additional photos and more detailed articles about each student will appear in the June issue of The

Messenger and during a presentation at the PennACE annual conference in May.

A special thanks to the 2022 PennACE SOTY selection committee members: 

Heather Balas, Mercyhurst University 

Diana Brush, PennWest (co-chair)

Meaghan Clister, PennWest University

Josh Domitrovich. PennWest University

Kristen Fike, Central Penn College

Patty Gochenauer, Penn State Mont Alto

Jenelle Henry - Kutztown University

Andrew Stopko, St. Francis University (co-chair)

Ashley Steffy, University of Pittsburgh

Tammy Stubert, Juniata College

Kimberly Woodley, St. Vincent College

JoAnne Day, longtime colleague and friend to many involved in Cooperative Education, Academic Internships and

Career Services, died in March 2005 after a two-year battle with cancer.  She was the first President of PennACE in

2002 and an active career services professional.