Thanks to the recent passage of the CTE Millage, Drone Aviation will become a new CTE high school pathway
Small drones zipped and darted through a cage set up at Forsythe Middle School’s gym as students got their first taste of the fast-growing sport of drone soccer.
A Project Lead The Way (PLTW) class at Forsythe Middle School hosted the presentation and soccer drone demonstration led by Tony Venaci of the Aerospace Industry Association of Michigan (AIAM). After explaining how the aerospace industry is desperate for talent and companies are eager to hire, he followed the students to the gym to fly drones. He later did the same for staff during a professional development session.
Drone soccer involves teams of five pilots who each fly small, caged drones: four defenders and one “striker.” The striker scores by flying through an opponent’s hoop while defenders try to block or intercept in a rapid, aerial game that tests piloting skill, teamwork, and strategy.
The demonstration ran first in Cynthia Heraud’s fifth-hour PLTW class for about 20 minutes and continued for staff PD, giving both students and teachers a close-up look at the equipment and rules.
“This is exactly the sort of hands-on, project-based learning we want for our students,” said Heraud.
She described how last year’s drone grant through the Michigan Space Grant Consortium, combined with summer programs funded by NASA and other partners, introduced new quadcopters into the middle school curriculum.
“We’ve been doing robotics and drones for a couple of years,” she said. “Drone soccer is the next sequence. It gets kids competing, collaborating, and thinking about aerospace careers. We’re building a pipeline so students can start in middle school and move into drone training and even a drone pilot license in high school.”
Tom Pachera, AAPS Director of Career & Technology Education (CTE), noted that AAPS is exploring every available avenue for equity and access into STEM careers.
“Careers in drone aviation are so new that students cannot not see themselves in them,” he said. “With the recent passage of the Career and Technical Education (CTE) Millage in Washtenaw County, one of our CTE High School Pathways will be Drone Aviation. Our current PLTW Flight and Space courses at our AAPS middle schools, including drones and possible soccer drones, will give students a glimpse of the high school curriculum. Thanks to Ms. Heraud, all of our AAPS Middle Schools will soon be running these courses.”
After his presentation about the extensive Michigan aerospace industry, Venaci said he wants to broaden students’ understanding of aerospace careers beyond the typical pilot or engineer roles.
“That’s a very limited view of the industry,” he said, noting opportunities span from programming and maintenance to machining parts like aircraft seat brackets. “The industry’s as big as they can imagine.”
By introducing middle schoolers to the sport of soccer drone, Venaci hopes to inspire the next generation of aerospace workers and show them the wide range of career possibilities available in the field.
Be the first to comment