NWCS students gain hands-on flying experience at Drone Camp

By Joan Janzen

Students at North West Central School (NWCS) in Plenty were excited to get behind the controls and do some hands-on flying at Drone Camp last week. Instructors from Volatus Aerospace offered the camp during the week of May 28th to June 4th.

Grade 5-10 students at NWCS participated in a drone camp last week where they received some classroom instruction and did some hands-on flying as they learned all about drones, their uses, and how to navigate them. NWCS PB

Stephen Slattery, a teacher at NWCS, said the camp was split into two groups. Fifty students from Grades 5-8 participated in the MyDrone program, and twenty-five students from Grades 9 and 10 participated in the more intense Science Experiential Aerial Research (SEAR) program. The three instructors were Matthew Johnson, Vice-President of Volatus and Director of Education, as well as Arif Kassum and Tanner Grywinski from Volatus.

Students in the MyDrone program learned basic drone use and safety, uses for drones in different career fields, how to build a drone, 3D mapping, and drone racing. The Grade 9 and 10 students also learned about drone use in agriculture, specifically identifying crop disease.

"The students in the SEAR program have a solid understanding of how drones could be used in the agricultural industry," Stephen explained. They were also able to take their basic Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) exam.

The camp included a lot of team-based activities where students strengthened their problem-solving and communication skills. After some classroom instruction, the students participated in hands-on flying as they mastered their piloting skills.