PLTW showcase highlights student creativity

Project Lead the Way highlighted student creativity at its 18th annual PLTW community showcase, held recently at Buckeye Career Center.

A total of 468 students participated in the program this year. Garaway Schools joined the program this year. Other participating schools were Buckeye Career Center, Claymont, Conotton Valley, Dover, Indian Valley, New Philadelphia, Newcomerstown, Strasburg and Tusky Valley.

A Launch program for students in kindergarten through fifth grade was held as an exhibition with 25 students from Newcomerstown and Tusky Valley.

With large rotating trophies awarded each year, students rise to the challenge to keep the awards at their schools for another year. Students compete in programs that prepare them for the future.

In its 18th year, Project Lead the Way has come full circle, with some former participants serving as judges. Clint Spillman, a graduate of Tusky Valley, is employed by Schaeffler in its special machinery department, where he programs Fanuc robots and vision systems for various applications and assembly lines.

Clay Phillips, a Dover graduate, is employed at Allied Machine and Engineering as an application engineer. He credits PLTW for his career choice.

Mitchell Stokey is another PLTW judge who went through the program.

“Through many student projects and competitions, PLTW is a cornerstone in our community, offering curiosity, confidence and hands-on problem-solving skills that prepare students to tackle real-world challenges beyond the classroom,” Stokey wrote in his judge biography.

Once he finishes his graduate degree, Stokey plans to join a robotics company specializing in warehouse automation.

The students learned to pay attention to detail with their projects.

“This is worth a big chunk of our grade,” Arlyn Huebner said of the project he did with Jayden Murphy. “So, we took our time. We used fine grits of sandpaper so we would have more like neatness instead of like messiness.”

The two built the framework of a tiny home for their project, and their neatness paid off with a second-place win.

They learned to work as a team.

“I learned to not just take it all on for yourself and to work as a group,” Murphy said. “It took a lot of work, though, for us to build and design it on Revit. We spent a lot of time.”

There were many robots and rounds of Vex Spin Up played. Although it looks confusing, Tim Goss, a ninth grader at Tusky Valley, explained.

“This is a competition where we must design and build a robot that can pick up and shoot disks into these baskets or push these disks under the baskets to gain points,” Goss said. “The first 15 seconds is the autonomous period. So, whenever you start the robot, you’re not allowed to touch the controller, and it just runs on the code you have. Based on if you score more points than the other during the autonomous period, you gain a bonus point when the round actually starts.”

Rounds last two minutes, and the team with the most points wins. Goss’ teammates were Sophia Altier, Kourtney Eddy and Sidney Bosler.

While Newcomerstown elementary students Skylar Durben and Daniel Saurbrey showed off their robots, Matthew Miller, Project Lead the Way teacher at the school, spoke about the importance of learning about robots.

“Everything’s moving toward automation, so they’ve got to get the baseline now and keep going up in levels of this so that they understand what’s coming in the future,” Miller said.

Cru Green, a student at New Philadelphia High School, spoke about the project she worked on with Rosa Gomez.

“We took a comb and a brush and mixed them together. In cosmetology school, you’re not allowed to sit your comb down, or else it’s an automatic failure in testing,” Green said.

One end of their project is a comb, and the other has a brush for applying color.

“You can just part the hair really easily, and then you can just apply the color, brush it out, making sure that it’s really even and fully coated,” Green said.

Elijah Warkentine, a senior at Claymont, spoke about an app he designed to help people exercise. Once it has information, including age and workout equipment available, the app designs a program specifically for that person.

“It’s generative AI, but it’s in a quick format for people who might not know how to work through it,” Warkentine said.

The app will configure a workout that is safe for different ages from 1-100 and the types of exercise they are interested in. Warkentine was pleased that his father was able to use the app, and it helped get him into a gym.

One of the most valuable opportunities in PLTW is talking with people. Indian Valley students Derrik Yent and John Zimmerman promoted their nail clipper with a built-in ruler, designed to help users measure their nails and prevent overcutting.

Steve Stokey of Allied Machine advised students during the PLTW award presentation on the opportunity of pursuing debt-free careers and noted that some employers offer college tuition assistance.

The winners of the competition, their grade level, school and projects are:

Gateway to Technology — Automation and Robotics, all eighth grade students at Tusky Valley: first, Kolton Grissom, Jaxson Shuman and Strawn Maddox, Ta-Ta-Ta Taday Junior; second, Hunter Crawford and Jacob Rorrer, The Crusher; third, Hawk Anderson and Riley Schandel, Bob the Builder.

GTT — App Creators: first, Kaiden Derr, Jesstine Loveday, Maddie Plauger and Hunter Reay, eighth grade, Tusky Valley, Seven Salty Sea Savers; second, Peyton McGarvey, seventh grade, Newcomerstown, Verbalize; third, Justin Heston, Mitchell Lamons and Kinston Matchett, sixth grade, Newcomerstown, Time Leap.

GTT — Artificial Intelligence: first, Jayden Beatty and Ty Nguyen, 11th grade, Tusky Valley, Zircon.

GTT — Technology Computer Science for Innovators and Makers, all seventh grade at Tusky Valley: first, Vivian Shilling and Mia Stutzman, Sipster; second, Alex Holderbaum, Colton Horton, Karisma Lundenberger and Landon Page, Dino in Danger; third, Aaron Reay and Lamar Walker, Air Guitar.

GTT — Design and Modeling: first, Kellen Rennicker and Lane Wells, eighth grade, Claymont, Multi Tool Toothbrush; second, Scarlet Dorsey and Carson Royer, eighth grade, Newcomerstown, Stride 2.10; third, Lexie Mardis, seventh grade, Indian Valley, Mini Sumo Bot.

GTT — Flight and Space: first, Mason Curran and Josh Eldridge, eighth grade, Indian Valley, Mars Lander 2; second, Michael Colvin, Ray Ledsom and Jasper McCahill, eighth grade, Indian Valley, Mars Lander 1; third, Alex Lawrence, sixth grade, Newcomerstown, Test Flight.

GTT — Green Architecture, all seventh grade at Tusky Valley: first, Connor McCarty, Carson Smalley and Benson Smith, The Treehouse; second, Arlyn Huebner and Jayden Murphy, On Another Level; third, Harper Brooks, Emmalyn Edwards, Adelyne Erickson and Alexandria Oliver, H.E. & A Construction.

Biomedical Innovations: first, Izaac Matthews, 12th grade, and Kaylee Reeps, 11th grade, Tusky Valley, NeuroPulseRM; second, Maleah Dillon and Sydney Miller, 12th grade, Tusky Valley, Thrive Autoimmune and Rehabilitation.

Computer Integrated Manufacturing, all 12th grade: first, Katelynn Armstrong, Abram McElwee, John Milburn, Trent Stiller and Brody Wolf, Tusky Valley, Crash and Burn; second, Jackson Rice and Hunter Zelenak, Buckeye Career Center, Marv’s Dishes; third, Abram McElwee, Tusky Valley, Sugar Hopper.

Computer Science Essentials: first, Ibon Iso, 10th grade, and Reagan Kenoksy and Natalie Stokes, ninth grade, Tusky Valley, The Locker; second, Trent Dyer and Chase Uhrich, ninth grade, Indian Valley, Jumping and Inevitable Mishap; third, Delaney Tice, ninth grade, Indian Valley, Star Fly.

Computer Science Principles: first, Qayshon Riley, 11th grade, Indian Valley, Bergrizzle’s World.

Digital Electronics: first, Benjamin Brantly and Mason Tidrick, 11th grade, Tusky Valley, VICR; second, Ali Limbacher, 12th grade, New Philadelphia High School, Flight Control; third, Haylie Menefee, 12th grade, Indian Valley, Handwashing Timer.

Human Body Systems, all winners from Tusky Valley: first, Bri Stotzer, 12th grade, and Leah Howard and Morgan Wright, 11th grade, Science That Slithers Past the Surface — C. Elegan Files; second, Giana Pica and Vivian Waucaush, 11th grade, Too Toxic to Move? Copper’s Effects on C. Elegans Thrashing; third, Jake McDermott and Joe Smith, 11th grade, Zinc Exposure and C. Elegans: A Toxicology Report.

Introduction to Engineering Design: first, Emilee Bankovich and Parker Reichman, eighth grade, Tusky Valley, Converta Cleat; second, Joshua Spencer and Duane Yoder, 11th grade, and Jaylyn Young, 12th grade, Buckeye Career Center, The Chow Chute; third, Layne McGaha and Scott Vidrine, ninth grade, Newcomerstown, Solar Car.

Principles of Biomedical Science, all students from Tusky Valley: first, Alayna Ames and Emerson Ragon, ninth grade, and Addison Brown, 11th grade, Disaster Response: Wildlife and Smoke Event in a Mountain Town; second, Emili Geltz and Beckam Himes, 11th grade, Jarrod McNichols, ninth grade, and Elizabeth Peffer, 10th grade, Disaster Response: Coastal Flooding and Storm Surge; third, Natalie Rennicker, 10th grade, and Hayden Cox, Ellie Matsel and Tori Stahlman, 12th grade, Disaster Response: Avalanche in High-Altitude Rural Valley.

Principles of Engineering: first, Colton Stevenson, 11th grade, and Brianna Straight-Beitzel, 10th grade, Conotton Valley, Flipper Flapper; second, David Peters, 11th grade, and Jakob Dawson, Austin Levengood, Jake DiGenova, Justin Festi and Emily Flood, 10th grade, Dover, POE Robotics; third, Max Annibaldi, 10th grade, and Maddison Kelley and Autumn McGill, 12th grade, Conotton Valley, Little Orphan Annie.