WYOMISSING, Pa. – “Penn State Berks is improving the lives of others, starting here in our community. Students, faculty, staff, and community members, backed by the strength of 24 campuses and 700,000 alumni. We are Penn State.”
That’s the last line of Penn State Berks’ new video titled “One Community Impacting Many,” which showcases the depth and breadth of the college’s positive effects on the surrounding region.
The one-minute video begins with students cleaning up a one-mile section of the Schuylkill River Trail that the college has adopted as part of its community service initiatives. It then segues to a woman buying fresh produce at Penn State Health St. Joseph’s Downtown Reading Campus through the Veggie Rx program, a joint initiative between the college and the health network to improve the lives of city residents through access to fruit and vegetables.
Academic programs including engineering are featured through the college’s Fluid Discovery Lab, the only open access fluid dynamics laboratory in the Penn State system. And the college’s commitment to entrepreneurship and innovation is showcased through the Flemming Creativity Entrepreneurship and Economic Development Center on campus and the Berks LaunchBox, located within the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts in downtown Reading.
Economic impact is further highlighted with the statement, “As dedicated partners in our region’s success, we’re contributing more than $97 million annually to the Pennsylvania economy.”
The college is also at the forefront of conducting research on methods to eradicate spotted lanternflies at the Center for the Agricultural Sciences and a Sustainable Environment on campus.