PLTW Ohio held its annual fall conference on Nov 3 & 4 at the University of Akron. Attendance was over 250 and among our special guests we welcomed Dr. Vince Bertram, new CEO of PLTW; William White, former OSU and NFL football player, now the Director of Development for the OSU College of Engineering; John Pry, Summit County Executive; Today’s Army,  and Dean Haritos of the UA College of Engineering, who was our host.

During the opening session on Thursday Nov 3, Steve Carter, PLTW teacher at Akron Garfield High School, and PLTW master teacher in CEA, was honored by the Ohio Executive Council for his years of service to the council.

One of the highlights of the conference is recognizing the schools who have achieved national certification or recertification in the past year.

This year’s honorees were:

Recertified Schools:
Akron Firestone High School, Dan Spak, Instructor
Centerville High School, Dan Stacy, Instructor,
Miller City High School, Ryan Benroth, Instructor
Timken Regional Campus, Bill Small, Chad Weaver and Renee Dunlevy

Certified Schools in Engineering:
Berea High School, Ryan McElyea, Instructor
Chaminade Julienne High School, Brad Kassner, Robert Young, and Andy Helms, Instructors
Dover High School, Carl Conrad, Instructor
Hilliard Bradley High School, Mike Armelie and Troy Shampel, Instructors
Hilliard Darby High School, Scott Dietrich and Dave DeShetler, Instructors
Hilliard Davidson High School,  Dan Reese, Chuck DeRee, Rusty Herring and Bill Kuch, Instructors
Kalida High School, Dale Liebrecht, Instructor
Lima Senior Performance Based High School, Mike Conley, Instructor
Massillon Perry High School, Bob Ballinger, Stephanie Laskey and Sherrie Kibler, Instructors
Midpark High School, Bill Evans, Instructor
New Philadelphia High School, Joe Pry, Instructor
Northwestern High School, Ryan Shearer, Instructor
Tusky Valley High School, Ron Gauding, Instructor
Wyoming High School, Ty Fitzgerald, Instructor

Certified Schools in Biomedical Sciences:
Chaminade Julienne High School, Amy O’Laughlin and Amanda Ooten, Instructors
Northwestern High School, Kelly Woodruff, Instructor

A big THANKS goes to Terri Fleming from Trumbull County Career Center, who took all the school photos for us. Nice Job Terri!

One of the best parts of the conference is meeting up with old friends and spending time with them! Perhaps the two happiest people who met up were University of Akron student Brandon Layton and his dad Jeff Layton, Superintendent of Northwestern Local Schools.

Thank you to all who attended and helped to make this conference a success! If you missed it this year, make sure you plan to join us next year! Date and location will be announced soon on the website!