Riverhead elementary schools hosted Rocket Drones on Thursday, bringing an engaging presentation on the developing world of drone technology to young students.
Rocket Drones is a nationwide, industry-owned drone education company that works with students in grades three through 12. Their programs are designed to equip children with the actual skills needed for the drone workplace, according to co-owner Brandon Turk.
“We are hurting for properly trained pilots in the drone industry,” Turk explained. “And current school programs aren’t teaching kids what they need to know.”
Turk challenged a group of third and fourth graders at Riley Avenue Elementary School to think of new, possible applications for drone technology. With the rate at which drone technology is developing, he noted, “The jobs [the students] are going to have don’t exist yet. This is really our future technology generation.”
Riley Avenue Principal Gary Karlson echoed this excitement, stating that “the kids are so flexible in their thinking. There’s not really right and wrong, because it’s a vast new frontier for them.”
Jen Sauter, an educational technology coach with Eastern Suffolk BOCES, has been instrumental in implementing the drone educational programs for third and fourth graders in all of Riverhead’s elementary schools. “We’re preparing them for 21st century careers,” Sauter said, pointing out that the array of industries using drones is only becoming more expansive.
“Now [drones are] everywhere, in every industry from the military to film, construction, environmental conservation,” she continued. “It lends itself to a lot of different areas.”
The second half of the assembly included a drone demonstration and gave some fourth-grade students an opportunity to fly small drones around the gymnasium.
“There is the excitement that just comes with putting the technology in your hand and actually being the literal pilot in your learning,” Karlson said. “And I’m excited for the technical pieces that they’ll learn, the engineering pieces, the coding pieces, the vocabulary that they’ll be exposed to.”
While the principal admitted, “I don’t know what the technology is going to be like when they’re ready to engage in careers,” he concluded, “I do think that that flexible thinking is going to benefit them most.”
RiverheadLOCAL photos by Emil Breitenbach Jr.
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