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The Yorktown High School Aeronautics Club competed in the finals in the Beginner Division of the UAS4STEM competition held in Oshkosh, Wisconsin from Monday, July 22 to Wednesday, July 24, school officials announced on Wednesday, Aug. 14.
The club was one of only five teams of drone enthusiasts to qualify for the finals, which took place during AirVenture, an aviation celebration that garners over a half-million visitors to Wisconsin each year.
According to school officials, the club was originally founded by student Sharik Bose during the 2022-23 school year. Since then, it has only been more and more successful thanks to "teamwork, communication, collaboration, and time management," officials said.
Bose, a rising senior, expressed excitement at the club's impressive win: "Placing first among extremely skilled and capable teams at the national level is a dream come true!"
The club's road to victory involved plenty of practice sessions to hone their programming skills, understanding of GPS coordinates, and quick decision-making.
Bose said his past as an Eagle Scout helped him with the training process.
"As an Eagle Scout, the ‘Be Prepared’ motto helped me run through the various scenarios in my mind and formulate a series of solutions with the team,” Bose said.
In addition to the Aeronautics Club, Yorktown High School also offers a new drone elective class to prepare students for careers in unmanned aircraft systems, officials said.
“The school district welcomed it as a unique concept in the region and in our state, and their support helped us a great deal,” Bose said of the class.
As for what's next for the Aeronautics Club, the "Corntographers," as they call themselves, hope to also help local emergency responders with search and rescue efforts in addition to offering workshops for younger students.
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