PORTSMOUTH, Va. — It’s not just fun and games this summer at Victory Elementary School. For a group of rising middle school students in Portsmouth, flying drones could be the first step toward a future career.
The Starbase Victory summer camp, a STEM-focused program supported by Portsmouth Public Schools, is giving students hands-on experience in science, technology, engineering and math through drone piloting, rocketry and other interactive activities.
“This gives you a hands-on approach that you won’t get throughout the school year,” said Dr. Janai Eley, a program instructor with Starbase Victory.
“When you build a rocket, that’s engineering. When it takes off, that’s Newton’s Law. When you build your Mars habitat, that’s science. It also ties into CTE. It moves into, ‘Hey, I can have a career as an engineer,'" Eley said.
Students like Luke Baker, an incoming seventh grader at Churchland Middle School, say they’re excited to explore new possibilities.
“It’s fun putting things up in the air — like rockets and stuff,” Baker said.
While Baker has his sights set on becoming an NFL player, he said drone flying is “something cool I could do too.”
Eley said that’s exactly the goal — to expand students’ understanding of what’s possible.
“It’s like there are so many other options out here, but sometimes we only pinpoint two or three things, and it’s most likely sports,” Eley said. “To get our kids interested in NASA and engineering — that’s a serious reward for me.”
As part of their final challenge, students will be coding and performing a synchronized drone flight. Eley says Starbase is needed.
"This shouldn't be supplemental. This is necessary. This needs to be throughout the year, every year, every day. Starbase, again, it gives you that hands-on approach versus sitting in a classroom and going over a PowerPoint; kids get to put their fingers to a tangible item," Eley said. "To study a Newton's law, to study coding, to study flying, we need hands-on reports. I think that's out of the school system. Starbase brings it back. ... And kids are super excited to come here."
But more importantly, they’re discovering that learning can be exciting — and that their future career might just take off.
