Buckeye Business Academy empowers students with real-world business skills

Buckeye Career Center’s Buckeye Business Academy at East Holmes has opened the door to a new horizon of possibilities for young adults seeking to enhance their business skills to secure gainful employment.

According to Amy Stauffer-McNutt, program instructor, BCC recognized that there was an opportunity to provide additional business skills to the eighth-grade population of Holmes County students who might not be moving on to high school.

The academy, which is open to any high school-age student, was designed to provide a variety of business skills to individuals who were nearing entering the working world, and over the past 35 years, it has helped hundreds of students not only obtain office and computer-related jobs, but it has also helped build self-esteem and confidence in its students.

“We felt that an educational business program housed in this district that would benefit this community would be truly beneficial in so many ways,” Stauffer-McNutt said. “Going to Buckeye Career Center wasn’t where the Plain Community was going to send their students to learn business skills, so we started the Business Academy for that very reason.”

Local school leaders collaborated with business leaders and BCC to design the career tech education programs that have built the Business Academy’s course agenda, which offers everything students need to learn valuable skills in the business world.

Over the past 35 years, the academy has experienced great success in preparing these young adults for future success through developing a variety of skills like accounting, entrepreneurship, learning QuickBooks, financial literacy, business math, Photoshop, business English, communication skills, Microsoft Office, Word, Excel, Publisher and PowerPoint skills, computers and keyboarding.

“With our community in such need of quality employees, our academy offers an ideal opportunity for young people to learn some valuable business skills that allow them to build leadership and work skills and obtain some exciting employment opportunities, either in the work world or going back into their family business,” Stauffer-McNutt said.

While learning the value of the coursework, students have also found another hidden gem in the academy — participating in Business Professionals of America.

This unique connection has allowed students to participate in some exciting opportunities outside the classroom, like field trips, local community service projects, job shadowing and other benefits that only enhance the learning experience.

One exciting opportunity has been for the class to partake in the annual BPA Parliamentary Procedure event, where, over the past number of years, the academy has sent teams to nationals.

This has seen students go to state and regional competitions, and they have done well, qualifying for nationals for trips that have led to visits around the nation.

“Our kids are accomplishing some high-quality achievements,” Stauffer-McNutt said. “This has grown beyond anything we could have envisioned, and it’s all because our kids are so willing to work hard and do things the right way.”

Stauffer-McNutt said students may enroll at any time of the year since the program has staggered enrollment, and she is willing to be flexible with students' family and work schedules.

There are two separate class schedules offered, a Monday and Wednesday schedule and a Tuesday and Thursday schedule, with alternating Fridays.

“If someone is interested but has an odd job schedule, I am totally willing to work around it,” Stauffer-McNutt said,

Robert Miller, owner of Tekton Engineering, said his company had struggled with finding qualified people to fill some clerical-type roles over the years until he connected with BBA.

“We were struggling to find hires with the complete training and computer skills, and it took a lot of effort to train them properly, and it often didn’t work out for us,” Miller said. “Then we hired a girl (from Buckeye Business Academy), and from day one, she knew how to run QuickBooks, she was professional, and she had numerous business skills that allowed her to perfectly fill the role we needed. For us, from a business perspective, it’s been a perfect fit, and I think any students who dedicate themselves to get further training tells you a lot about them. The training they are getting there is so important, and they are training specifically to fill quality job opportunities in the business world.”

There are many stories throughout the community of BBA developing business talent to fulfill the needs companies are looking for, and Stauffer-McNutt said they are excited about providing that opportunity to many more young entrepreneurs who are eager to build their resumes and develop plenty of meaningful business skills.

The Buckeye Business Academy is free to apply to, and transportation is provided through East Holmes Schools, although there could be some program fees that apply.

Buckeye Business Academy is located at 5200 state Route 39 in Berlin on the bottom floor of Holmes Center for the Arts. To enroll or for further information, contact Stauffer-McNutt at 330-243-4485 or amcnutt@buckeyecareercenter.org.