IT’S TIME TO FIELD
A TEAM!
Education Through Aviation
By Kyle Jaracz, Education Director | kylej@modelaircraft.org
AMA’s drone competition is something that you have hopefully heard about already, but it’s a story worth sharing again!
As I wrote this, we had just held the championship for the 2024-2025 UAS4STEM season. The competition was conducted at what is the world’s busiest airspace for one week a year: EAA’s AirVenture Oshkosh in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
After the dust of the preliminaries had settled, 13 teams, consisting of one or two adult managers and four to 10 students (ages 11 to 19), were invited to the finals. Read more about the final competition and how it all shook out using this QR code:
This past season, I was excited to see an AMA club directly create a UAS4STEM team: the Scio Flyers. Jim Hartwell, president of the Scio Flyers Model Aviation Club in Ann Arbor, Michigan, stepped up to lead the team as a manager. He received additional support from Ken Jablonski and many others within the club.
The club has been developing their youth and education focus for some time. They decided to host a team and reached out to local educators, explaining the competition
and creating a callout for students who might be interested in the opportunity. It was great to see them implement UAS4STEM as an effort to engage with their community and grow the hobby.
Jim shared that this challenge served as a catalyst to reenergize the club. Working collaboratively on the program and with youth fostered a sense of purpose.
Use this QR code to visit the Scio Flyers website and learn more:
A similar pathway is worth considering for many clubs. If you want to be more engaged in your community, consider finding local youth who are interested in flight, robotics, computer programming, or science in general. UAS4STEM could be exactly what your club and those students need.
You don’t need to be a drone expert to manage a team. In fact, we recommend that you not be the sole expert of it! You are there to provide guidance, structure, and support to ensure that the team is progressing in the challenge while also having fun.
The AMA Education staff meets monthly with team managers and is available to answer your questions. We also have a great network of competitors who truly enjoy supporting new teams on the UAS4STEM journey.
View the UAS4STEM New Team Guide by using the QR code.
