Millersville Graphic Communication Students Receive Numerous Awards

Students of the Millersville University Department of Applied Engineering, Safety & Technology may run out of room in their trophy case if they keep up the pace they are at now. Among a slew of awards taken home by Graphic Communication students this year, Josh Sperow won the Award of Excellence while Gaetan Juliano and Danielle Olson each received a Certificate of Merit at the Specialty Graphic Imaging Association conference in Las Vegas last month.

Dr. Mark Snyder, coordinator of the applied engineering & technology management program, praised the students’ high level of motivation and drive for improvement in winning the awards.

“The students had to put forth an effort that was worthy of recognition—without student effort we can’t accomplish much,” said Snyder. “There must be some internal motivation to learn and do quality work in order to achieve the results that have been accomplished.”

In August, Hynea Redd, Audrey Ventura, Melvin Fields, Walter Simko, Corey Davis and Samantha Wnuck placed second to Dunwoody College of Technology in the “Design to an Opportunity: Graphics Challenge” category from the Association of Independent Corrugated Converters. In 2012, Millersville students topped Clemson University in the same competition.

“The fact that past students have won against such formidable programs is infectious (in a good way),” said Snyder. “The current students know that if they put forth the effort, they have the resources to succeed.”

Earlier in the year, graphic communication students took home the Graphic Arts Association’s (GAA) prestigious NeoGraphics Best of Category (Student) Award.

The Best of Category (Student) Award, announced in May, was earned by students in the fall 2013 ITEC 355 – Contemporary Printing class for their 2014 Department Calendar with Augmented Reality.

The students, Stephanie Carbaugh, Jeremiah Charles, Corey Davis, Andi Duran-Dean, Melvin Fields, Alisha Gerhart, Jon Light, Leigh Miller, Nolan Myers, Katie Romano, Stephanie Shaffer and Robert Womack made use of a cutting-edge technology, called augmented reality, (that many companies are only just now beginning to adopt) in what  Snyder called a “great learning activity.”

The students of the ITEC 355 class were not the only ones to walk away from the GAA conference with an award. Joe Portillo was the recipient of both a GAA Neo Franklin Award, presented in Philadelphia, and the Gold Award from the Flexographic Technical Association, presented in Baltimore, for his production of the Millersville “Circle M” Frisbee label.