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Jill of All Trades Welcomes 100 High School Students to Owens for Hands-On Day of Workshops 
Posted on October 16th, 2026
Now in its fourth year at Owens Community College, the Jill of All Trades event has introduced nearly 400 local high school students to what’s possible with a future in the trades. For one student, the event means even more.
One hundred high school students from nine local schools spent the day at Owens on Thursday. After being welcomed with speeches from Owens president Dr. Dione D. Somerville and U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, the students broke off into groups and attended various workshops, including welding, and auto service and repair, robotics, machining and diesel technology.
The Owens Foundation sponsored a $1,000 scholarship for the second year, awarded at random to one of the attending students and redeemable at the college. This year, Rogers High School sophomore Nakiyah Hutcherson was randomly selected for the scholarship.
Miricle Gilbert won the scholarship last year, and it’s already changing the course of her future. She will begin classes at Owens in the spring 2027 semester, enrolling as an Engineering Science student with the goal of transferring to a four-year university to pursue robotics engineering.
“Receiving the Jill of All Trades scholarship means more to me than just financial assistance,” said Gilbert, a 2026 graduate of Scott High School. “It came into my life during a time when I was dealing with personal hardships, my grades were dropping and my living situation was uncertain. Honestly, I wasn’t even sure how I was going to continue moving forward with college. I was trying to navigate everything happening in my life, and it was difficult to see what my future would look like.”
Last year’s scholarship wasn’t initially awarded to Gilbert, but the original recipient declined it. One of Gilbert’s teachers, Rosie Stevens, tracked down the opportunity and advocated for Gilbert to receive it.
“She fought for me to have a chance at something that could help me continue my education,” Gilbert said. “What makes this opportunity so meaningful is that, during a time when I was struggling to see a way forward, someone believed in me enough to fight for my future.”
The scholarship has not only eased some financial burden, according to Gilbert, but it’s also motivated her to “keep pushing toward my goals.”
“I want to build a future where I can use my skills, continue learning and create opportunities for myself,” Gilbert said. “Receiving this scholarship and having Ms. Stevens advocate for me has helped me look at my future differently. It reminded me that I still have opportunities ahead of me, even when things don’t go as planned.”
Gilbert said she chose Owens for its hands-on learning environment where she can develop her technical skills and prepare for her future. Her goal is to learn how to design, build and work with robotic systems while growing her 3D-printing business.
This year, students attended from Aerospace and Natural Science Academy, Central Catholic High School, Clay High School, Penta Career Center, Rogers High School, Scott High School, Start High School, Toledo Technology Academy and Whitmer High School.
Students also visited sponsor tables in the Center for Fine and Performing Arts rotunda, staffed by this year’s sponsors: American Welding Society, The Andersons, ASRaymond, City of Toledo, Columbus Equipment Company, Enbridge, First Solar, Freshco, Hancock Structural Steel, MCA of Northwest Ohio, Magna, Mary Beth Hammond, Murphy Tractor & Equipment, Nooter, OhioCAT, Owens Corning, Specialized Carriers & Rigging, TARTA, Taylor Automotive and U.S. Army.
Learn more about Jill of All Trades by visiting owens.edu/jillofalltrades.