STEM education takes flight with Innovation Campus drone camp

This week, we have 36 middle school students from Maryland and Virginia learning how to build and fly drones. They've had an opportunity to complete the recreational use and safety test certification that's provided by FAA for hobbyists. I've enjoyed it, getting to meet new friends and being able to explore the drone world and meet new people who come to speak. I feel like, this will be one of my favorite camps this summer. When they get a chance to do hands on learning, they're engaged. They're excited about learning something new. So this is how you really get a chance to really see the kids blossom. I built a drone, which is really cool. I like how everybody is, like, helping you, and I like the way they teach. When they're assembling the kits, they're receiving subject matter expertise and knowledge about how various hardware parts are involved in the overall structure of a drone, system of a drone. It's really engaging and empowering to see young minds at work and stem. Well, my experience has been, like, really fun, and, like, I learned a lot of new things about, like, drones and aviation. And all the people that came talked about their experiences kind of made me more interested in engineering itself. We feel it's important that students not only have an opportunity to build and fly and testing, engage, but also reflect on their learning as well. Reflecting on what they're learning is critical because it allows them to be able to communicate with others, what they have learned, what they have experienced, and also to identify what their next steps could be with this field or in this area. Is it too high? Is it too low? Just like being able to have a manual in front of you and, like, with some instruction, just be able to build something and know how it works. It's awesome. We are so excited to be able to partner with different corporations and industries that provide this program free for students. So we would like to thank our sponsors, Northrop Grumman, AT&T, Virginia Tech Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership, and FAA Assure. When we talk about a free program in the summer. Parents, you know, first thing they said, you're joking, you're serious. My mom told me about it, and she was like, Oh, do you want to come to this drone camp? And I was like, Oh yeah, that'll be fun. It's been really nice, and I'm, like, made new friends, and I socialize with the teachers too. They're really nice. You're not gonna get the same impact by looking at a book. Right or reading, you know, an assignment, that this pulls it all together, that integrative aspect. You know, it's not just science. It's not just math or technology. It all fits together. In a real world application. Yeah, that's really sparked my imagination because being able to understand a whole new world to drones, it's exciting.