POMPANO BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - About a dozen high school students devoted their afternoon to teach middle school students about a new technology that allows them to paint — with drones.
Middle school students from across Broward County were flying drones, and even painting with them, thanks to mentors from South Plantation High School at the Young Scholars Academy.
“These kids are from different middle schools around the county, and they don’t really get to talk to each other a lot,” said Director of Secondary Learning Guy Barmoha. “So, we brought them here to the Young Scholars Academy to build some camaraderie and relationships, and to help them learn about drones, as well.”
The students are part of the Young Scholars Academy, who participated in four different stations over the weekend to help build critical thinking and problem solving skills.
The first station the students participated in was based on engineer design, where the students learned to deliver a package from one point to another using a drone.
Then, at the second station, they got to build an operable drone, where the mentors assisted them with the engineering.
At station number three, they worked with a flight simulator, and then at station number four, they were faced with a challenging task — to creatively paint with a drone.
The goal of these workshops is to help the students grow into innovative young professionals. “Because of all the problems they’re faced with environmental issues, dealing with sea level rise, dealing with food shortages,” said Stem Curricular Supervisor Dr. Merilyn Johnson. “We want them to critically think through problems and to be able to apply their knowledge to new technologies,”
It’s a fun way to learn, and, according to mentors, it’s a great opportunity to inspire the future.
“Inspiring younger kids to do it is a great thing because that means in the future we’ll have more people in the hobby,” said one mentor, Ethan Plassman. “And the more people in the hobby, the more fun there is, the more help there is. The bigger it can get, the better.”
The high school students are part of a drone club at South Plantation High that will be hosting a drone race against other schools in December.
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