FLITE KIDS, ASSEMBLE! Building My School RC Club.

First off, let's get something straight. The title lied to you. The story you're about to read isn't 'mine', nor is the club that the story is centered around. To be truthful, I simply couldn't think of anything better to type that would convince you to click on the title and come read this story. The story you're about to read is about a community. A small community, albeit, but a community that just one year ago I couldn't see existing in my school system. Let's get started...

(I lied... really I did)

My name is Julian Waters. I'm 16 years old, a Junior in high school- and while I might write this like a cheesy, second rate narrative book from the school library, every word of this article is true.

(Me in 2015...check out that hair!)

In the 2014- 2015 school year, I was going through my second year at Western Albemarle High School. So, too, was our principal, an awkward, somewhat unsure administrator from Montanna, who had taken the reins of WAHS following the retirement of the old (Very old- think dinosaur old) principal, Dr. Francis. John Werner was a traditional principal in most senses of the word. Formally dressed, hair neatly combed, he sat in a traditional office, with mail and appointments delivered by his secretary, and nearly all of his public addresses written by the school career specialist. He was the sort of principal who smiled at you in the hallway, bent down slightly and waved at you while saying "Hey buddy". In his second year as principal he was referred to by the student body simply as 'thumb', an allusion to his somewhat blockish features and stout neck. I saw little wrong with him as an administrator; for all of my secondary school career I had been educated in a traditional schooling environment with a traditional principal and Dr. Werner, in my view, was an extension of that experience.

(John Werner AKA 'Thumb', Courtesy of The Crozet Gazette)

At the same time that I was going through my sophomore year of high school, at the same time as Dr. Werner was nervously exploring his second year as principal, I was exploring my personal hobby of model aviation. I'd entered the hobby in 2013 when I ordered a Hobbyzone Champ from Amazon as an impulse buy, and since being sucked into the marvelous world of flight (Or perhaps flite?) my hangar had expanded to a meager four aircraft (Though my pocketbook seemed to think it was anything but meager). Excited to show some friends at school the newest plane in my fleet, a UMX Beast manufactured by Horizon/Eflite, I'd smuggled the box out of the house and onto the schoolbus, my transmitter hidden in my backpack. When lucnchtime came I joined my friend group at one of the outside tables and slowly began unpacking and checking everything.

The aircraft, battery, radio- all good.

Plugged the battery in, transmitter on, bound, control check- all good.

Motor, servos, right direction, CG- all good.

Without any amount of hesitation I walked to the sidewalk, checked for traffic that might have been coming into school, and took off from the road, circling back after takeoff to fly over the grass field just next to the school building and avoid flying over other students sitting outside eating lunch. After six or seven minutes of flying, I landed the aircraft, picked it up, and unplugged the battery. I was just about to walk back to the lunch table when I noticed Dr. Werner walking over to me, a worried look on his face.

"Hey bud, could you maybe not be doing that?" He gently patted me on the back as he spoke, slowly and quietly.

I nodded, and without saying a word walked back to my lunch table.

The next week I sent him an email, asking about establishing a flying site on school property that would comply with the AMA safety code. I was called down to his office later that day, and sat in a chair across from his desk while he explained that he didn't believe that anywhere on campus would be a safe place to fly.

Two months later he disappeared. Just straight up left. At first the rumors went around saying that he had pneumonia. Then it was a family emergency. He never came back to school. Nobody knows where he went, or if he even submitted a letter of resignation. A year and a half into his tenure as principal of Western Albemarle High School, Dr. John Werner left and never returned.

Over the summer, major changes occurred. One of the vice principals left, a new one was brought in, the entire library was renovated, and a new principal, an energetic, modern, middle- aged man from across town moved into Dr. Werner's office. Darah Bonham was nothing like his predecessor. His office, instead of a desk, filing cabinet, chair, and computer, was a single standing height table, swivel chairs all around, with a whiteboard at one end of the room and a Ghandi quote at the other: 'Be the change you wish to see in the world.'

(Darah Bonham, courtesy of The Crozet Gazette)

All of a sudden, the board shifted. Western Albemarle High School was no longer a traditional education environment, but a much more open and explorative place. The renovated library had a dedicated makerspace, complete with laser cutter, 3D printer, razor blades, cutting mats, and rulers. The agenda that Dr. Werner had not been willing to engage with, the agenda that I had pressed for just a year earlier, was now very much a possibility.

At the urging of one of my teachers I had contacted Mr. Bonham over the summer, expressing my interest in model aviation and asking for his support in establishing a club or flying site at Western. His reply came a few weeks later:

'Julian-

Thanks so much for the email. I love the passion you write as it pertains to your hobby and interest. Let me ask you a couple questions;

Is this a school sponsored club? (In reference to my local RC club I had mentioned in my original email)

If not, have you tried pursuing this with a faculty advisor?

I believe there are lots of ways to not only showcase what you are doing but to also get more students involved. I would be glad to meet with you after I officially start July 1 to learn more.

Best,

D Bonham'

In his one reply he had shown more energy and willingness to work with students than I had ever seen, and it was an energy that entirely astounded and amazed me.

Once the schoolyear began I was able to meet him in person. Previous concerns about finding an area to fly (Among the many athletic fields on campus) were nonexistent, and his questions were much more centered around how to engage students and get off the ground. His final suggestion was that I, along with a friend of mine who was also in the hobby, start a club to engage other students at school, as well as work with a faculty advisor who could support us.

A few weeks later I met someone else. Not an administrator, not even a teacher, Gene Osborn had joined the school system as a 'Learning Technology Integrator', who's main project was to create Minecraft based learning environments in middle schools. He interrupted my study hall one Wednesday to introduce himself to everyone in the cafeteria:

'Hi, if I could have just two minutes of your attention please-

My name is Mr. Osborn, I'm a learning technology integrator with Albemarle County. My big thing is minecraft learning but I'm here to help you guys if you want to do an independent study type of thing. I've done rallies in Washington, I've helped students launch clubs before, so if you're interested in anything that's kind of 'out- there', like technology based learning, or drone racing...'

I didn't hear anything past 'drone racing'. In an instant, I knew we had our guy, the guy we needed, the guy who could make everything work for us. This was the guy who could help us engage students and share model aviation with other people in the school.

Once he was done talking he walked through the tables, making small comments to students, engaging with them. When he was passing me he hurriedly joked 'How about some drone racing, huh?' and nervously laughed, then started to walk away.

'Actually!' I popped up. 'Have you ever heard of Flite Test?'

(Have YOU heard of Flite Test?) 

He turned around and smiled (And when I say smiled I mean Cheshire Cat style- Gene Osborn could win a smiling contest with no effort) at me. 'No.'

(Gene Osborn, smiling)

I pointed at my shirt. 'Well, they're a youtube channel that does a bunch of stuff with planes and drones, and I was really hoping that we could get something started here at Western.'

'Oh no way!' He laughed again, less nervous this time, and came over to me as I pulled up a Flite Test youtube video for him. 'That's crazy!'

The Kool- Aid was strong, and he drank it right up. Over the next few weeks we demo'd FPV to him, showed him a nano QX, how it worked, and started piecing together a plan for how to engage students and get other people at school interested. I immediately wanted to do a school- wide assembly to demo aircraft and quadcopters to the entire student body, but it quickly proved to not be a practical idea. We needed to engage more students at the individual level, and so that's what we did. With Mr. Osborn's help Shane (My friend) and I filed the paperwork for a school organization: 'The WAHS Drone and Model Aviation Club'. We were set. Model aviation at my high school was becoming a reality.

 (Yummy Kool- Aid)

The most anticipated part of the year for clubs is the club fair. During our 50 minute lunch period, every club in the school sets up a table in the cafeteria, attracting members for the schoolyear. Shane and I went all out. A large posterboard sign reading 'YOU COULD BUILD THIS!' pointed to my 6 foot wingspan Valkyrie, which was suspended from the ceiling and lit up with interior LED strips. Secured to the underside of the aircraft was an all- in- one FPV unit, and on our table sat a miniquad, a laptop running the Liftoff FPV simulator, another laptop running a Flite Test YouTube video, and two FPV goggles, both tuned into the video transmitter secured to the aircraft above. When the bell rang for lunch, students flocked to our table. The lone signup sheet I had brought with me soon ran out, and I scrambled to print off more. Students flocked around the FPV goggles, waving their hands around to try and identify where the camera they were seeing from was mounted. Some played around with the FPV simulator, while others stared from across the cafeteria at the enormous glowing aircraft suspended from the ceiling. In a trance, I watched the signup sheets fill up as if by magic- 5, 10, 15, 20, 25... Soon, far too soon, the bell rang for the end of lunch, and slowly the flood of bodies subsided enough that we could start cleaning up our table. After bringing the aircraft and sign down from the ceiling I hurriedly tallied our signup count- 28 students. A number that barely registered in my head, but registered enough that I cracked a smile and jumped, punching the air in jubilation. 28 members... our club was real.

Of course, if you know anything about high school clubs you should be smart enough to know that not everyone who signs their name and email address onto a signup sheet is going to actually be a part of the club. Our first meeting had about 13 people. The second meeting was 11. Over time it's sifted down to our core membership- a regular 7 or 8 people who are out at the field during lunch, flying and crashing and having a good time.

The way I talk about it makes it sound simple. Now that I've written 'Flying and crashing and having a good time', I realize just how much I've abandoned the most important part of our story. Our school club community exists in large part thanks to the greater RC community. The membership fees- $15 per member, weren't nearly enough to cover the cost of purchasing and maintaining aicraft. Our club owes a huge debt of grattitude to members of the RC community, from Flite Test and from RCGroups, as well as from my local RC club. Shawn and Mark from MultiRC were kind enough to donate an HMB235 miniquad frame that's been a huge asset to us. Just recently we received a TurboAce Matrix AP quad, a value of nearly $5K, from a gentleman off of RCGroups. It needs a fair amount of TLC (And lots of safety precautions) before we can begin flying, but it's entirely thanks to the warm hearts and the generosity of the RC Community that have blessed us and allowed us to get off the ground. 

(So many donations)

Very quickly, I'd like to cover a 'quick start guide' to launching your own school RC club:

1. Talk to an administrator. Speak openly and genuinely about your passion for the hobby and how you want to share it with others at school in the form of a student club or other organization.

2. Find a faculty member and other students who support you. You can do this by arranging a small demo with school administraton during lunch, either by actively flying an aircraft or by having a static display similar to how we set up during the club fair.

3. PM or post threads in RC forums or facebook groups asking for donations to help your club. Be sure to include specific information such as school name, address, principal name and email address, etc. to let people know that you aren't scamming them.

4. Do your best to fly with your club as often as possible, or to do other modeling activities when weather isn't cooperating. Additionally, try to expand your influence and raise interest by demoing at other schools within your county.

The story doesn't end there. While our club at the High School was beginning to thrive, Mr. Osborn invited me and Shane to demo at the middle school, a short 5 minute walk away. A week of advertising on the morning video announcements (The drones are coming, the drones are coming!) led to a crowd of over 60 middle school students, who eagerly 'ooh'ed and 'aah'ed at the miniquad and aircraft that we flew to demo for them.

(The middle schoolers loved it)

This first demo day at the middle school led to a weekly workshop, in which I've been able to work one on one with a small group of two middle school students to practice building (Currently working on FT Sparrows) and to learn about every aspect of model aviation. With plans to grow the program next year with more students and a faster- paced curriculum, I'm hoping that the middle school students will be excited enough about model aviation that they'll swell the ranks of the club at our high school, and in turn help to take the next generation of students above and beyond the limits of conventional education and strengthen the wonderful community of model aviation that's evolved within both schools.

 (They enjoy the workshops)

This isn't a story of success or a story of failure. It's a story of evolving education, and evolving opportunities, opportunities that we can all take advantage of. Ours isn't a story that has to be alone. Much like MESARC, there are pathways to model aviation that are just waiting to be explored. If you're a student in middle school or high school, these are opportunities that you can seize. If creating a model aviation/drone community in your school is something you're passionate about doing, nothing can stop you. It starts with one step, and that one step can carry you places you'd never imagine.

The important takeaway here is that what we've done isn't some magical feat. It's not some looming challenge that's impossible to replicate. What we've built is very real, and very doable.

You just have to be willing to stretch out your wings

and fly.

(Cheesy, as promised)