Education Through Aviation
UAS4STEM TEAMS TO
COMPETE AT AIRVENTURE!
By Kyle Jaracz, Education Director | kylej@modelaircraft.org
Greetings once again from the AMA Education department! I hope your flying season is providing you with ample opportunities to learn more about your area of aeromodeling interest. I’m also hopeful that you have a community of like-minded individuals to sharpen each other’s skills!
On the subject of community, if you haven’t yet heard about the I FLY AMA Facebook group, you should check it out! There are a lot of great stories, tips, news, and more waiting for you to discover. Take some time today and contribute to the group! I stop by there at least once a week to catch up on some great stories. Maybe I’ll see you there.
I hope that some of you joined us for the 2021 AMA Jr. Camp! This was our second year of running the AMA Jr. Camp for kids ages 5-13. This year, we tried to utilize it as a way that clubs, teachers, and individuals can inspire a love of aviation in their communities.
As such, Flight Packs are available for purchase long after the live event has taken place. These come with all of the materials needed to complete each portion of the 2021 AMA Jr. Camp and will serve to assist your outreach efforts. These kits are available for $74.95 each and are designed for each student to have his or her own flight kit.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the education team directly at education@modelaircraft.org.
The AMA Education team has also begun more question-and-answer sessions via livestreams. We recently met with our UAS4STEM teams and discussed some exciting news about this drone competition!
This year, we will conduct regional competitions as virtual-only events. This has been done to ensure that even if a team has been unable to meet in person, they still have a viable opportunity to compete. The biggest difference is that instead of actually flying, the judges will provide a challenge to teams to plot their mission in the software. Using screen-share, the judges will be able to see the finished mission and that will help them assess each team’s level of preparedness.
Moving forward, the big news for our national competition is that this year’s UAS4STEM national championship will be conducted at EAA’s AirVenture celebration in Oshkosh, Wisconsin! AirVenture is one of the largest stages for aviation-related activities and will help bring UAS4STEM to the attention of an expanded audience.
EAA is excited to showcase our teams and is doing everything that it can to help make this experience as affordable and memorable as possible.
We have also recently met with our Model Aviation Student Clubs and shared resources with the club leaders. We’re excited by the conversations we’ve been able to have about what educators need and how we can ensure continued success in model aviation with students across the nation.
Of course, Camp AMA is also on our minds as we continue to proceed with hosting a safe and fun experience for our in-person campers. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out!
I hope to see you at the flying field!
