ROTC is starting a new drone team for students.
The team has the aim of competing with other schools by running drones through an obstacle course within a time limit. It also is a chance to get more students involved with ROTC, since drone team members must also be members of ROTC. The team plans to meet every Thursday after school in the Flex Space starting in late February.
ROTC is a class where students get to see what it looks like to join the military and other occupations like police academies; it also implements work ethic, teamwork and self-reliance.
Lt. Cmdr. Adam Schlismann, who will lead the drone team, showed interest in the project. “If we do this correctly, eventually there is a pathway to students getting their FAA certification and actually being allowed to fly drones in the FAA controlled airspace and have a license and so on; and that would be pretty cool to be able to to work with the kids and provide that for those interested.”
Schlismann also stated that the drone team wasn’t funded by the school. “The Navy made, like, money specifically available for purchasing [the drones] if we were interested in doing so. We didn’t have to– but just to let you know, this would be just a cool additional thing to add… It’s taxpayer money… No one has to pay anything out of pocket and nobody’s being forced or coerced or pressured to do it either.”
For those interested in joining the team, Schlismann added that “ROTC is open to anyone at the school. You don’t have to be interested in even joining the military… it’s not for everyone.”
Many students expressed interest in joining the team, such as Ellie Pugh, a freshman, and Paige Abrahamsen, a sophomore.
“I wanted to join this team because I grew up around technology-type things and always wanted to fly drones,” Pugh said.
Describing the reasons for joining ROTC, Pugh stated, “You can do a lot in ROTC. You get benefits, like, if you were to join the military. And having drone technology could help you if you want to join the airforce, you could [understand] the flying, and get a little bit of the details, like how to fly.”
Abrahamsen said, for her, this would be an entirely new experience. “I’ve never done anything that has to do with drones, and it’s a new team, so there are chances to meet new people with it.”
