Albuquerque Public Schools
Albuquerque High Hosts Aerial Drone Championship
Local Teams Soar to Victory at Albuquerque High's Aerial Drone Competition
The Albuquerque High School STEAM Club hosted its third annual Aerial Drone Competition on March 7 in the AHS Commons.
The Hawks, a JROTC Drone Team from Volcano Vista High School won the Teamwork Championship along with a team from Mescalero High School called Monkeying Around. The Hawks also won the Coding award.
The Volcano Vista JROTC team is led by Major Hartenstein. Monkeying Around is coached by Mescalero teacher Nate Raynor.
Winning the All Around Champion was a girl’s team from Rio Rancho’s R4 Creating and the Skills Champion was also from Rio Rancho, the boy’s team from Rio Rancho’s R4 Creating.
The Exoplanets from Albuquerque High School were invited to attend the Robotics Education Competition Foundation’s Southeast Regional Championship in Texas in April after winning the Teamwork Challenge along with another team in Mescalero this December.
The Exoplanets are hoping to raise money to attend.
“It is an honor to qualify for an RECF regional championship where top teams from several states will compete to attend the national tournament,” said Valerie Kovach, an AHS physics teacher who coaches the Exoplanets.
Students learning drones today are actually learning the foundations of robotics, artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles and aerospace systems, she said. These technologies will shape the next generation of transportation and environmental monitoring. The drone learning activities are essentially an early gateway into that future.
Kovach pointed to Project Jupiter a Massive AI data-center campus planned near Santa Teresa, New Mexico, close to the Texas-Mexico border. She noted that the types of skills students pick up by participating in RECF events will help prepare them for careers at places like Project Jupiter.
The Albuquerque High students participating in the STEAM Club’s drone activities are learning drone navigation, coding logic, AI interaction, engineering documentation and systems thinking.
“I wanted to teach young people how to work with technology ethically, thoughtfully and creatively,” said Kovach, who is also Albuquerque High’s STEAM Club sponsor. “I believe that every person comes here for a purpose, and that learning should open doors. Students need to learn that technology should serve humanity.”
She said volunteers are the heart of what brings the exciting Aerial Drone Competitions to life. RECF not only relies on them to sponsor and run the competitions, but offers training and support to do so. Kovach became an Event Sponsor and an Aerial Drone Coach three years ago.
“I wanted to make sure my team could compete, even if we could not afford to travel to an event, so I sponsored an event at my high school,” she said. “I was so nervous the first time that I almost cancelled it, but Nadine Amaya, my regional coordinator, got me all the support I needed.
The March 7 Competition was Albuquerque High’s third event, but the first one it ran without an outside coordinator running the technology for the event. Scott Caretto, an AHS student’s father, works in IT for Lovelace and was happy to quickly do online learning of the technology system used to score and run the event. Three Promethean boards posted across the AHS Commons kept the players and audience apprised of the details of the event.
Volunteers also came from the local Nu Rho, a chapter of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc. chartered in Albuquerque. The Fraternity members who volunteered included Jabari Farrar, Rene Matison, Jonathan Reynolds, Corey Coombs and Anthony Williams.
“Since 1964, our mission has always been to engage in projects that uplift communities across the state of New Mexico and represent our principles of Manhood, Scholarship, Perseverance and Uplift,” said Lawrence Fannin, a member of the group. “Engaging the next generation of STEM leaders is core to that mission, and something that will continue to be supported throughout APS and beyond.”
Nu Rho Chapter offers a scholarship for high school seniors, and the volunteers brought information about it to the Aerial Drone Competition.
The judges, referees and scorekeepers who may have never attended an Aerial Drone Competition studied training modules provided by RECF and consulted with regional coordinators remotely. Kovach relied on the same resources to be the Event Partner for the Aerial Drone Competition.
“Its the same way I learned how to operate the drones and how I taught my students to do so,” said Kovach. “I am still learning!”
To find out how to get involved, students, teachers and parents can go to RECFevents.org.
The next local Aerial Drone Competition will be held at Garfield STEM Magnet Community School on March 21, hosted by teacher Joe McDaniels.
A special two-day event, “Flight of the Nations” Aerial Drone Competition, will be held March 27 and 28 at the Inn of the Mountain Gods in Mescalero and will be hosted by Mescalero School science and STEM teacher Nate Raynor.