The rise in technology has brought on a new standard of living when shipping your online orders or delivering pizza: Drones.
The innovation, development and coding of drones has become more prevalent in the engineering field — and high school students got the opportunity to learn how to do just that at the annual Statler College Engineering Challenge Camp.
The high school innovation camp this year hosted 31 campers from seven states, including West Virginia, Tennessee, Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and California.
The camp is co-sponsored by EQT and Statler College, and in part by Halliburton, Assurant and Northeast Natural Energy. The camp is coordinated each year by Cate Schlobohm, outreach coordinator.
The main goal of the camp is to introduce engineering in the problem-solving process, according to Ryan Sigler, enrollment coordinator for the engineering college, as well as get students interested in the field.
“Not only do we like to explain and show the technology, we like to show them how they can use it in everyday life and their careers,” Sigler said.
Each year, registration for the camp is open at the beginning of March and does not close until it is full, according to Sigler. Cost for the high school camp is $700. Sigler said they offer scholarships provided by the sponsors of the program, who he said have been “generous” to the program.
Sigler said word of mouth was the biggest factors in letting people know about the challenge camp. In addition to campers gaining experience in the field of engineering, Sigler said they get a taste of the college experience by staying in Towers, a dormitory on campus.
Paige Leaseburg, camp counselor and engineering student, said teaching the youth what WVU has to offer in her field is stimulating.
“When the students come here and we’re able to teach other students from other areas what we have, it’s so much fun and to see them have fun with us and what we do every day is very exciting,” Leaseburg said.
Leaseburg’s favorite part is to work with the students, and she is impressed by the talents they already have when they attend the camp.
Guilherme Pereira, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, instructed the students about drones, how they work and how to properly program and code one. Pereira had an experienced journey prior to WVU, as a professor in Brazil for 14 years, but it is his first year teaching one of the camps.
All of Pereira’s research is specialized in the development and coding in drones, and he said it’s nice to share his knowledge with high school students.
“Even if they don’t know this technology, they are interested in learning this technology, so this is a good opportunity to share this experience,” Pereira said.
Prior to his hands-on activity Tuesday, Pereira discussed the growing importance of drones and their use with Amazon, food delivery and the medical industry.
Some jobs in a few years might not exist, according to Pereira, so he said it is important to teach the youth how to be prepared for future jobs and what to expect.
“They need to know that the new careers will require new skills, like coding and things they are not expecting to learn, so this could be our way to open their eyes to the new possibilities they’ll have,” Pereira said.
