CHAMPION — One of the newest additions on the Trumbull Career and Technical Center campus is a 9-hole miniature golf course made by the students.

Marissa Brown, an engineering / manufacturing instructor of the career tech education program for the Early Innovators Academy at the TCTC, said both juniors and seniors worked on the project.

She said the project began in spring 2022 when blueprints and models were made by the students and presented to the administration.

Brown received a $5,000 grant from the Ohio STEM Learning Network to cover costs with a design selected and ground broken in fall 2022.

“It has been a work in progress and is now functional. All the students and staff can use it,” Brown said. “The idea is to get outside with your class and have fun. We have also used it during community night.”

Landscaping and construction students helped Brown’s students with the design and layout.

“This has been a great opportunity for our students to learn to budget, plan and do blueprints and see a project from start to finish. They have truly done it all,” Brown said.

Owen Wildman, a sophomore from Champion, said the project has been fun with everything that had to be done.

“There were multiple groups of our classmates who designed each of the nine holes,” he said.

Each hole is based on a different program at TCTC such as fire / EMS has a small fire hydrant at the hole, an engine for auto service, a bone for veterinary tech, tape measure for construction and a small camera and headphones for interactive multimedia.

Kacey Boles, a sophomore from Champion, said she went to the different programs and spoke to them about the project.

She said each of the groups picked a hole to design.

There are handmade signs with names at each hole indicating which program that hole represents.

Shaun Sudol, a sophomore from Howland, said he made signs and also put the names and some designs of programs on the holes.

Katherine Hollins-Fritsch, a freshman from Niles, and Zoey Seigman, a freshman from Champion, said they enjoyed planting plants in the area and also having a shed to store supplies and clubs.

“I like that we were able to do hands-on activities when putting the area together,” Hollins-Fritsch said.

Brown said for the next school year students will make repairs to the area and add drainage.

She said the project will be passed on each school year to the next class so they can work on anything that may need changed or maintained.

Brown said the miniature golf area is in the shape of a large “E” which is a theme at TCTC that students after they graduate will be “enrolled, enlisted or employed.”

Travis Laneve, a junior from McDonald, said under each hole is a 12-by-12 patio area, filled with limestone.

“It was fun seeing it all come to life and all our hard work paid off. It was a lot of work,” said Brynley Kitzmiller, a junior from Cardinal High School.

Olivia Berry, a junior from Badger High School, said it was fun to do tabletop scale models of each hole and exciting to see the little model grow into an actual hole.

Brown said students researched concrete and gravel when designing the area.

She said the miniature golf course is for the use of those at TCTC.