BCC SkillsUSA members qualify for state competition

Several Buckeye Career Center SkillsUSA members recently competed at the regional SkillsUSA career-technical student organization competition and have qualified for state.

First-place winners include Kyle Gibson (Auto Technology/BCC) in Automotive Service Technology, Gabryella Ferren (Cosmetology/Carrollton) in Cosmetology and Marshall Kohler (Electrical Systems Technology/New Philadelphia) in Industrial Motor Control.

Second-place winners include the team of Gage McGinnis (Welding/Newcomerstown), Lucas Crooks (Welding/Newcomerstown) and Hunter Goedel (Welding/Indian Valley) in Welding Fabrication, and the team of Johnathan Herron (Construction/BCC), Braden Pope (Electrical Systems Technology/Garaway), Joel Appleby (Construction/BCC) and Andrew McKelvey (Construction/BCC) in Teamworks.

Third-place winners include Karle Kandel (Graphic Arts/Strasburg) in Job Skills Demo, Cale Lewis (Auto Technology/Newcomerstown) in Automotive Light Repair, Robbie Jones (Graphic Arts/Indian Valley) in Advertising Design, Miguel Mejia Sica (Auto Collision/Dover) in Collision Repair Technology and Robin Stevens (Electrical Systems Technology/New Philadelphia) in Industrial Motor Control.

Fourth-place winners include Korianne Lee (Cosmetology/Carrollton) in Extemporaneous Speaking, Toni Watson (Graphic Arts/Tusky Valley) in Photography, Chandler Wilson (Welding/Dover) in Welding and Brady Hershberger (Electrical Systems Technology/Garaway) in Electrical Construction Wiring.

Other students who advance to state without a regional competition include Jaila Gonzalez (Cosmetology/New Philadelphia) in Braiding and Hair Design; Brady Coleman (Commercial Truck/Garaway), Lucas Cross (Commercial Truck/Indian Valley) and Avery Fetty (Commercial Truck/BCC) in Diesel Equipment Technology; Isavela Calel-Ixcoy (Business & Marketing/New Philadelphia) and Anna Seidel (Graphic Arts/New Philadelphia) in Graphic Communications; Evan Lockhart (HVAC-R/Sandy Valley) in HVAC; Jace Eckinger (Outdoor Power/Carrollton) and Khalen Green (Outdoor Power/Carrollton) in Motorcycle Service Technology; Zoey Campbell (Project Lead the Way/Engineering/Conotton Valley), Kail Marshall (Project Lead the Way/Engineering/New Philadelphia), Ethan Jones (Project Lead the Way/Engineering/Dover) and Jaden Vlacovsky (Project Lead the Way/Engineering/Tusky Valley) in Robotics Urban Search & Rescue; and Jaron Smith (HVAC-R/Dover) in Sheet Metal.

The students will compete at the 2026 Ohio SkillsUSA State Leadership & Skills Conference at the Greater Columbus Convention Center on May 5-6.