Before summer break, all SmithTech seventh-grade students participated in an engaging drone education experience that introduced them to the rapidly growing world of unmanned aerial systems. Throughout the day, students learned the fundamentals of drone operation, explored how competitive drone events are structured, and had the opportunity to fly drones while navigating elements of a competition-style obstacle course.
A special thank you to the team from Virginia Space Grant Consortium for facilitating this hands-on learning experience and inspiring our students throughout the day. We also want to thank Caitlin Hayes of Saint John the Apostle Catholic School (Virginia Beach) for engaging with our students and contributing to this valuable experience. The enthusiasm and curiosity displayed by students were evident as they learned more about flying drones, drone competitions, and the many career opportunities connected to drone technology.
At SmithTech, learning experiences like this help bridge the gap between classroom learning and real-world application. Through experiences such as drone education, students continue to strengthen their computational thinking, collaboration, problem-solving, and technology skills while gaining exposure to high-growth career fields.
SmithTech is a Virginia College Partnership Laboratory School led by Old Dominion University with Chesapeake Public Schools that provides students with opportunities to apply computational thinking and design thinking to real-world challenges while building critical problem-solving, collaboration, and data analysis skills.