Parkway Elementary School’s library was filled with the hum of drones on Wednesday afternoon when the school’s fifth-grade drone club, The Parkway Skykatz, tested their remote control piloting skills by flying drones over, around and through imaginatively designed obstacle courses.
The Skykatz meet twice a week, on Mondays and Wednesdays, according to media specialist and drone club sponsor Melissa Freidman. “They’ve just done a fantastic job,” she said.
The drone club debuted at the school this September after five drones were provided for the school by The Columbia County School District Robotics Initiative.
In the drone club, students have the chance to learn how to operate the flying machines, maneuver them through obstacle courses and eventually program the devices to fly autonomously.
Program growth
With only a limited number of drones, Friedman said that the club currently has only 15 student members. However, these students will swap places with a new set of students after Christmas.
“We’ll have another group of students for the second semester…and then at the end of the school year we’re gonna have some kind of competition with all the kids who were in Skykatz,” said Friedman.
Friedman said that the school is hopeful for its drone capabilities and competitions to expand: “We’re the first elementary school [in the Columbia County School District] to have the drones for them to be able to use,” said Friedman. “But we want it to eventually go to the middle school and high school, so that competitions can happen at the elementary, the middle school and the high school level.”
The Skykat Experience
Owen Putzier, a fifth grader in Parkway Elementary’s drone club, said he decided to join the club because he has drones at home that he wanted to learn more about.
Now that he’s gotten involved, he said there’s much more to the drones than he first realized – from fun tricks they can perform to their life-saving abilities. “You can do like, flips and stuff with them, I didn’t really realize that.” he said. “And some are used for firefighting and saving people in floods,” he said.
Putzier said he believes he’s found lifelong friends in his fellow club members. “I just come in here, and I see all these people that are funny, and they’re kind,” he said.
Bright futures
Parent volunteer Joe Spingardo already began helping out in the club with plenty of drone-related knowledge as an instructor for the U.S. Army Cyber Center of Excellence based in Augusta, where he teaches on electronic warfare and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
Spignardo said he has been “amazed” at the students’ abilities to absorb and apply STEM concepts, and said that they can build on this experience for possible future employment opportunities.
Technology is changing so fast,” said Spignardo. “And this allows them to keep up and be ready for the future.”
Students with early drone experience will be able to obtain their Remote Pilot Certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration when they turn 16; this means they will be able to pilot commercial drones.
