IBX News

The Inner Banks STEM Center in Beaufort County is working with PS Jones Middle School, John Small Elementary and Snowden Elementary to create a drone program for students as a way to keep them engaged during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The online drone program would allow students to participate in a drone-based curriculum for nine weeks over the summer, according to WNCT. Al Powell, with Inner Banks STEM Center, told WNCT that the organization received some funding to purchase drones for the program. 

“We’ve gotten funding to buy roughly thirty drones," Powell told WNCT. "Ten drones will be assigned to three representative schools that would be our pilot schools."

STEM Coordinator for Beaufort County School System Wendy Pettiway told WNCT the program will help prepare students interested in a drone-based career by educating them in coding and flying drones. 

"This is to help the summer slide for the students who may be most vulnerable and also to prepare those students for hopefully future careers," she told WNCT. 

Inner Banks STEM Center is purchasing the drones from Daniel Mehay, co-founder of FTW Robotics, WNCT reports. 

“Our goal is to get this new technology in front of students that could help you know make the world a better place and drones have a lot of capabilities in terms of technology and one of the big things that we use them for is teaching the students how to code,” Mehay told WNCT.

Beaufort County health workers are also working with Inner Banks STEM Center to provide free thermometers to families who are participating in the drone program, according to WNCT. 

“If the kids have any problems they’ll be in a position to contact the instructors and also the instructors will be able to log on and monitor and track the kids' progress,” Powell told WNCT.