SAYBROOK TOWNSHIP, Ohio — It's a new class offered at Lakeside High School that has students weaving through the sky.
Run by teacher Jostalyn Krider, the newly created drone technology class, consisting of 17 students, explores how drone flying skills can be translated into the real world.
"We took the first six weeks kind of preparing, watching a lot of videos, learning all the controls," senior Destiny Figueroa explained.
Students here can work to obtain a commercial drone pilot FAA license, giving them the ability to build a business. That could mean flying for surveying, inspecting, and even aerial photography for things like real estate and weddings.
"There’s a bazillion doors [drones can open,]" Krider said. "There’s several companies out there doing search and rescue with drones, thermal drones, agricultural uses of drones, actually working for corporate or commercial airlines."
For 17 year old senior Gabriel Benton, there was no way this aspiring aerospace engineer major was going to miss out on enrolling in the new drone class.
"Never in my dreams would I have guessed drones would be at this school," Benton said.
As principal Douglas Wetherholt points out, funding from the Robert. S. Morrison Foundation made the class possible.
"Drones and anything in aviation is a huge growing field," he said.
"I was looking for ways to get students more interested in math," Krider said. "I saw almost a decrease in math abilities coming into my classroom and wanted a way to reinvigorate that interest. So we started in robotics and now we’re into drones."
Industry experts say the global drone market is expected to almost double by 2030, reaching more than $55 billion.
"It’s crazy," Figueroa said. "Half the kids in this class didn’t even know what a drone looked like six weeks ago. Now, we’re all flying them."
