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MIDDLETOWN — At least 100 students at Middletown High School have taken a course in drone and flight science.
Now, they will have the opportunity to learn how to put that knowledge to work.
The Board of Education on Tuesday unanimously approved a drone small business course.
The course will be taught in partnership with Aquiline Drones, a minority-owned business based in Hartford, according to Assistant Superintendent of Schools Stacey McCann and written material on the course prepared by aerospace education teacher Paul Pelletier.
Completion of the drone and flight science course is a prerequisite for the drone small business course, according to the written material, and McCann said at least 100 students have completed the prerequisite.
According to Pelletier’s written material, the course will focus on planning and operation of a business using drones to power wash buildings, which is one of Aquiline Drones’ businesses.
“This course highlights mission planning and operations management of running a drone power-washing business,” the course description says. “Students will study topics such as Industry Overview, Commercial Drone Systems, Business plan, Financial services, Mission assets.”
The course can lead to a Connecticut State College System certificate, according to the description.
McCann said the school system has worked with Aquiline Drones in the past, as students have done summer internships at the company. It has contracted to host Middletown students as interns for three summers, according to the written material submitted to the school board by Pelletier.
Board of Education member Deborah Kleckowski expressed enthusiasm about the new course. She said at Tuesday’s board meeting that it is “so important because college isn’t for everybody.”
Kleckowski added that “utilizing our community partners should be a priority.”
Middletown students have started learning how to work with drones as early as middle school.
During an aerospace and manufacturing education workshop last year, a group of students that ranged from a seventh grader to a high school senior used high-tech drones to make a three-dimensional image of Beman Middle School.
The drones were equipped with thermal imaging to find hotspots. In the course of the project, the students discovered about eight malfunctioning solar panels on the school’s roof and cells in a number of others that were not working properly.
The first project in the workshop was 3D mapping of a school bus, in which the drones orbited around the vehicle, taking thousands of photographs every two seconds.
Until the addition of the drone small business class, the high school’s aerospace and manufacturing education program consisted of three courses, in mechanical technology and aerospace design as well as the drone and flight science course.
The existing drone course can lead to Federal Aviation Administration certification as a commercial drone pilot.
In the mechanical technology course, students can build a real RV-12 airplane.
The aerospace design course focuses on making aircraft parts. It offers three college credits in an introduction to aerospace manufacturing.
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