Inside the statewide push to build Ohio’s next generation of tech talent
From student-led cybersecurity workshops to virtual reality career experiences, schools and community partners are making technology tangible across Ohio. The six-year effort gives young people a chance to meet the people, try the tools and discover the careers shaping their communities.
At Miami University on Friday, a humanoid robot is handing out stickers. In Wintersville, high school students are leading workshops for their classmates on cybersecurity and AI. In Canal Winchester, elementary students are exploring LEGOs, coding, and robotics. And in Bowling Green this week, teenagers used Meta Quest headsets to explore technology careers.
It’s all part of Ohio Tech Day, taking place across the state today. The event brings hands-on technology into classrooms, campuses, and community spaces, with activities shaped by the schools and organizations hosting them.
OhioX started Ohio Tech Day six years ago with Meta, which remains its presenting sponsor. The goal was to help students see technology careers they could build without leaving Ohio. It has since grown into a statewide movement involving schools, colleges, companies, and community groups. Think of it as a tech week for students: local partners create experiences suited to their communities, all as part of one shared day across Ohio.
The premise is simple: Ohio’s ambitions as a technology hub depend, in part, on whether its students can picture themselves doing the work.
AI in students’ hands
At some schools, students are moving beyond learning what AI can do to trying it for themselves.
At Upper Arlington High School and Choices High School in Canton, students are taking on aiEDU’s Building with AI: Student Design Challenge. They identify a real problem, describe a solution in plain language, and use AI to build a digital prototype.
At Indian Creek High School in Wintersville, 10 students helped plan the day’s activities and are leading mini-workshops for their peers on cybersecurity, data protection, approved AI tools, and effective prompting.
“One of the biggest differences this year is that the students are taking the lead,” Dave Moffat, the school’s career-technical education head, told WTRF. Alongside the technical subjects, he said, students get to practice explaining ideas, collaborating, and presenting to others.
The work behind the technology
Other events let students examine the machines and infrastructure that make technology possible. Mansfield Christian School students are showcasing robotics and 3D-printing projects. At The Academies at Jackson Center in Dayton, students are taking apart damaged computers and examining a gaming computer.
The kickoff at Bowling Green State University brought several of those paths together. Hosted by OhioX with Meta’s Bowling Green Data Center, BGSU, and Be Pro Be Proud, it gave high school students a chance to explore careers through Meta Quest virtual reality experiences and the Be Pro Be Proud Mobile Workshop. Activities introduced fields including robotics, welding, electrical work, and HVAC.
Those skills are part of the physical foundation of the technology economy. Data centers and other complex facilities need people to build them, install their systems, and keep them running.
“Through our partnership with Be Pro Be Proud, this next generation of tech professionals can experience firsthand the careers that build and operate Meta’s critical infrastructure,” said Amanda Miller, community engagement manager at Meta.
Many roads into tech
The range of activities is deliberate. A student may discover an interest through software, a trade, design, or a problem in their own community.
The Wood County Board of Developmental Disabilities is introducing high school students to assistive technology. At Shawnee State University’s Kricker Innovation Hub, students are exploring tech entrepreneurship and meeting people who work in the field. A second kickoff earlier this week at Franklin University, held with Columbus City Schools and COSI, brought the effort to Central Ohio.
Each experience gives students a different way to approach a big question: What kind of work could I do?
“Ohio is building real momentum as the Silicon Heartland, and we want Ohio’s students across the state to see themselves as part of that future,” said Chris Berry, president and CEO of OhioX. “Ohio Tech Day is all about showing students that they don’t have to leave Ohio to pursue big ideas, build meaningful careers, or change the world. They can do it right here.”
Six years in, Ohio Tech Day’s growth is due to local participation: educators opening up their classrooms, employers showing students the work behind their technology, and students getting a chance to try it. Across Ohio today, those encounters are making a future in tech easier to see.
