By Ryan Ehrhardt
Drone Club, the ULab after-school program that has been happening since the ULab’s opening, may compete in large competitions.
“We have plans depending on the interest. But that’s something we have to do next school year, not this year, because the competition runs parallel to robotics,” Academic Technology Coordinator Jonathan Delgado said.
However, eighth grader Beckett Nelson just wants to have fun and doesn’t want to fly competitively.
“I would enjoy flying it less competitively because it sounds stressful to be on a team,” Nelson said.
On the other hand, eighth grader Ethan Francis would like to compete and expand past just having fun flying drones. He would like to learn more about coding the drones and practice more of many other skills with the drones. “I like to have a goal to work toward,” Francis said.
Drone Club only meets once a week in the ULab with only a few students participating consistently. Despite these humble beginnings Delgado still thinks that it can grow.
“As we get more students and they’re more drones, more interest,” Delgado said.
Because drone competitions happen with robotics, they are already past. However Delgado thinks with the right enthusiasm, Drone Club may become a fully competitive team for UPrep.
“We’re going to start the program earlier so we can make it,” Delgado said, as long as that’s what the club wants.
In the case that the club decides to compete to improve their skills and talents, both Francis and Delgado have ideas.
Francis proposed more “daily challenge” activities and Delgado said he wanted to “practice specific skills for the challenges.”