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CCCTC presents Community Partner Awards

By Submitted Material 4 min read

LISBON - The Columbiana County Career and Technical Center Board of Education and Superintendent Jeremy Corbisello presented the first annual Community Partner Awards to deserving businesses and individuals this summer at the CCCTC's July board meeting.

The awards were a vision that Corbisello brought to fruition when he was hired as superintendent last year. As the high school director/assistant superintendent, he knew that it was incredibly important to recognize individuals within our community who always step up and stand up for the students at the CCCTC. With that in mind, once he became superintendent, he developed the Community Partner Award to present to individuals and businesses that have made outstanding contributions to the success of the CCCTC programs and students.

Throughout the 2025-26 school year, Corbisello worked with the career tech instructors and the administrators of the CCCTC to identify the individuals and businesses that had gone above and beyond in their contributions to the CCCTC. The inaugural awarding year saw eight entities being recognized. All of the individuals representing these entities were invited to attend the July board of education meeting where they were presented with a framed certificate and photos were taken and shared with them to be displayed in their businesses.

The first recipient is Dave Hughes, who has been assisting with the welding program for over a decade. He brings a wealth of knowledge to assisting students with inspections, testing, and general experience in the field of welding. During that decade, he has been mentoring students as well. When Hughes walks through the building, he always greets everyone with a smile and kind words. He is genuinely happy to be a part of the success of the program.

The second recipients are Brittany Smith and Haeden Panzott of the Columbiana County Port Authority. They are specialists in CCPA (College and Career Preparatory Academy). They routinely reach out to the CCCTC with opportunities for the students including Manufacturing Your Future Scholarships, connections with new businesses where students can seek employment, and tours of local manufacturing facilities.They are continuously big supporters of our manufacturing programs.

The next recipient is the Lisbon Veterinary Clinic. A longtime friend of the CCCTC, Dr. Susan Narby and Dr. Brittany Traux continually support the Veterinary Science Technology program through donations, job shadowing experiences, rabies clinics, and other educational events.

Another strong supporter and deserving recipient is the MVMC (Mahoning Valley Manufacturer's Coalition). There have been multiple MVMC leaders who have over the years made the CCCTC a priority. Jessica Borza spent over 10 years dedicating her time, expertise, and resources to assist students and now Alex Hertzer has taken the reins. The MVMC has provided countless connections for student employment opportunities, the RAPIDS grant for PMM equipment, a retention bonus for the PMM instructor, and endless career fair support and assistance with pre-apprenticeships.

The Carpenters Local 171 presents the next recipient, Jason Rance. He has consistently attended advisory committee meetings, participated in the career fair, has provided opportunities for students to be placed in apprenticeship programs, and always attends signing day with the students he has assisted.

In the field of automotive collision repair, Walt's Body Shop owner Wynn Cooper was recognized. He has employed many students from the CCCTC including recent graduates Bethany McCarney and Landon Rittiger. Cooper always attends the advisory committee meetings and offers welcomed support to our automotive collision repair instructor whenever it is needed.

Steelcon's Allen Hodge is the next recipient. He provided a $15,000 donation from Steelcon to the welding and precision machining and manufacturing programs in order to assist in purchasing the expensive equipment needed to make sure students were trained to industry standards. He employs recent graduates Jack Harker and Cashton George. He also invites students into his business for tours to get real-life experience.

The final recipient is Dearing Compressor who was represented by Production Coordinator Brian Dwyer and CEO Becky Wall. Over many decades, Dearing Compressor has supported the welding program through material donations, attending advisory committee meetings, attending the career fair, and providing job shadowing opportunities to any student who is interested.

The CCCTC is honored to have such wonderful people in our business community who are willing to give freely of their time, and in many cases use some of their profit, to support career and technical education. This shows that they believe in the future of career and technical education and are willing to do what they can to help support students that can help grow local businesses in the future.

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