The inaugural drone camp for kids at Griffiss International Airport in Rome has just wrapped up.
It featured two one week sessions attracting 39 kids overall.
The final session ended today with an obstacle course race inside one of the hangars.
Cole O’Shaughnessy was one of the finalists in the competition.
“It’s cool to be able to fly something, have something move around off the ground. I think it’s cool.” O’Shaughnessy says.
Co-finalist Michael Polce tells NewsChannel 9, “I was pretty nervous actually. I didn’t think I was going to do that well but it turned out pretty well.”
Campers spent much of the week learning the math, science and engineering involved in drones, even building one themselves.
Ariella Sprague says, “I think its important to be well rounded in all areas of STEM and not just specifically in computers so I decided to go to drone camp.”
Inside the hangar was a very basic course but some of the organizers say they plan to build a more sophisticated racetrack indoors that can be used year round.
They say the plan includes the construction of a state of the art course outside using some of the vast space of the old air base there.
Mary Chruscicki, Owner of AX Enterprize which helped put on the camp, says, “We’re going to do soup to nuts world class racing park here at Griffiss.”
Chruscicki says the course will be open to companies and recreational fliers of all ages.
For right now organizers plan to take the lesson plans developed for the camp and offer them to area schools for their own drone class.
