On Monday night, May 15th, the Fairfield Community School District Board of Directors excitedly accepted a donation in excess of $12,000 from 13 individuals and businesses for a new student opportunity at the high school. Before the actual presentation, a short history of the journey was presented by John Grunwald, Meshari Alnouri and Principal Aiddy Phomvisay. The short presentation included the fact that this was a plan that had been in the works for two years.
Originally, Mr. Grunwald became aware of Drone Soccer and eventually shared the idea with Mr. Alnouri. Both staff members had conversations with Dr. Carlson in Burlington, IA who also is a member of the Burlington STEM board. After meeting for a couple weekends to complete the training/drone pilot course, all three gentlemen spoke with Tami Plein. In a joint effort, they all set up a Drone Soccer demonstration at the high school after speaking with Principal Phomvisay, who was behind the project 100%.
Besides being a competitive game, the drones can be used in the CTE classes. In forming a team, pilots, mechanics and computer programmers are trained. In class, each of these positions will be used to experiment with the equipment and study the different effects on the equipment and efficiency. The students would also get valuable hands on experience for careers beyond high school. The students would work on programming skills, troubleshooting skills and even flying skills that could be employed by the farming community, conservation positions or even real estate companies.
The money that was donated was deposited into a Drone Soccer activity fund. The donation will help to purchase all of the drones and tools needed for the sport/curriculum. There is also training for coaches/sponsors as well as a Drone Soccer arena. For a better idea of what competitive Drone Soccer is, please check out the following videos. FHS is also excited to announce that besides Mr. Grunwald and Mr. Alnouri, there are also two other community members interested in helping to coach the newly forming team.
Thank you to the community members for their help and financial support. If you have questions, or if you would also like to make a donation to help this club and class "get off the ground", please contact John Grunwald at john.grunwald@fairfieldsfuture.org.
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