In its fourth year, Rotorfest was expected to bring about 400 students to the area on Penn College’s campus near the front entrance parking lots and field.

As the younger students began to filter in, their enthusiasm was unaffected by the cooler temperatures and wind that blew through the area. A Black Hawk helicopter landing on the grassy lawn drew everyone’s attention as it precisely reached the ground with the emergency management and homeland security students forming a perimeter around the area to prevent anyone from straying onto the landing zone.

“Starting in November, students interviewed for what’s called Command and General Staff positions, part of Emergency Management students, and then starting in January, they started reaching out to different emergency response agencies. So we have the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, Pennsylvania National Guard, our local Lycoming County Emergency Management Agency, fire, police, the FBI is here,” said William Schlosser, a member of the faculty in emergency management and homeland security.

He described the event as basically “a big showcase” with the students organizing the different staging areas.

Small children walk between helicopters on display during Rotorfest on the Penn College campus Tuesday morning. The annual event is a chance for students of all agest to see not only helicopters but other first responder’s apparatus. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

“From our Penn College perspective, they were able to run a large incident and see how that all goes. So are they making sure people are parked in the right space? Do they have food? They have water, they have the power, all that kind of stuff that happens in a real world incident, plus they then get to go through and talk to all those people, Schlosser said.

When the high school students come to campus they meet with the Penn College students to learn more about the college students to learn more about emergency management. They are then given scenario cards so that they can play kind of a scavenger hunt, Schlosser said. Then at each agency they can collect stickers.

“Basically, they’re looking to see what every agency does to work together in a disaster,” Schlosser said.

Right after the event, Schlosser’s students go over how things went and how they could do better next year.

Alanah Carroll, a freshman in the emergency management program at the college was serving as the deputy resource moderator during the event.

“Essentially I’m just inside of our incident command post, making sure that all the resources we have for when they (the students) get here, what they’re doing and when they’re leaving-just making sure that we don’t have a cluster build up,” Carroll said.

For Carroll, who has been involved with emergency services since she was 14, the program was a natural fit.

“I just really love helping people and being on the officer side, being able to actually plan how to help those people is the next step in my education, so I figured this would be good,” she said.

Originally from the King of Prussia area, Carroll said that the labtime, hands-on learning aspect of Penn College is what drew her to the program.

Schlosser said that Rotorfest could be characterized as basically a big lab.

“This is an example.Penn College emergency management is a very unique place to come and actually do emergency management in a controlled setting,” he said.

“We’re very exercise-driven or very community-oriented and this is just a good example,” he added.

Four students from Columbia-Montour Area Vocational Technical School were visiting the various emergency services sites represented.

Mollie Rose, Chelsea Davenport, Lillyanna Benfield, and Isabella Marion, all freshman at the school, said that they were particularly interested in the agencies related to the medical professions.

They had just finished speaking with a representative of the state’s Army National Guard, Sgt. Derek Stevens, and Benfield admitted that although she wasn’t really interested in joining the military, she might consider it if they “absolutely needed help.”

Stevens said that the students who had visited his area wanted to know what it’s like to serve in the military; what kinds of benefits do they have; and what does it take to get in.

Stevens, who is a recruiter in Tioga and Potter counties, has been coming to Rotorfest since after it first began.

“I think a lot of students have an idea of doing something in the military. They like to explore their options,” he said.

“There’s just so many options out there in the world right now, but they can see when they get with some of these brand new soldiers that are here and they talk about their real life experiences, they can actually see it from someone younger, their age and see how they’re making their life work,” he added.