Buckeye Career Center students place at PLTW showcase

Five Buckeye Career Center Project Lead the Way/engineering students earned top spots at the annual Project Lead the Way Community Showcase April 30 at Buckeye Career Center.

The team of Duane Yoder, Garaway; Joshua Spencer, Buckeye Career Center; and Jaylyn Young, Indian Valley, competed in the introduction to engineering design category, earning second place.

According to PLTW/engineering instructor Tim Vandeborne, the project reflects strong teamwork, practical problem-solving and real-world product design thinking.

“This project showcases the students’ ability to turn an everyday problem into a creative, functional engineering solution,” Vandeborne said.

The team of Jackson Rice, Buckeye Career Center, and Hunter Zelenak, Dover, competed in computer integrated manufacturing, also earning second place at the showcase. For this project, students demonstrated skills in automation, manufacturing systems, material handling, process flow and documentation.

“The students’ hard work and technical understanding were recognized with the second-place award, highlighting their ability to explain and demonstrate real-world manufacturing concepts using the Amatrol Logistics Trainer,” Vandeborne said.

The Project Lead the Way Annual Community Showcase is held each spring at Buckeye Career Center. The competition is judged each year by local engineers, and the 2026 event featured elementary through high school students from nine Tuscarawas County schools.