Youngstown Business Incubator's Explore VR guides Ohio students toward careers

Youngstown Business Incubator (YBI), a downtown-Youngstown economic-development nonprofit, runs Explore VR, a youth career-exploration program with dedicated staff and a named director. Program staff bring classroom sets of Meta Quest VR headsets into school classrooms across Ashtabula, Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties in northeast Ohio, introducing middle and high school students to advanced-manufacturing, STEM, engineering and skilled-trades career pathways. Students take immersive virtual field trips (an African savannah, a rainforest, a virtual roller coaster, a shark tank) and 'step inside' simulated workplaces and industries. Sessions align to state teaching standards and give teachers latitude to choose their own VR lessons. The program has been led by a named 'director of Explore VR' role - Megan Payich in 2025, Rochelle Landy as of September 2026 - and develops career-pathway content with regional partners including the Mahoning Valley Manufacturers Coalition and the Better Business Bureau, alongside local employers featured in the VR content (Humtown, #1 Cochran Cars, Novelis). A Youngstown State University communications professor arranged one 2025 classroom session. YBI reports Explore VR reached more than 2,400 students across the four counties in 2025 and more than 5,000 students cumulatively. On September 15, 2026, YBI announced a $35,517 Community Grant from the Taco Bell Foundation - the third consecutive year the foundation has funded Explore VR - to support career exploration and awareness through the program's immersive, VR-based lesson plans. The program's other funders reported by YBI include Bank of America and a separate $35,000 Ohio Department of Natural Resources grant for 360-degree environmental-science career videos, and an earlier (August 2025) $35,000 Taco Bell Foundation Community Grant aimed at reaching 1,200 underserved students.