ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – More than 100 indigenous middle and high school students are taking flight at a highly-anticipated aerial drone competition. Saturday afternoon at Albuquerque High School, the Robotics Education and Competition Foundation held a thrilling event, showing cutting-edge drone piloting and programming.
The competition features 23 teams going head-to-head in a fast-paced, hands-on challenge highlighting the growing importance of STEM education. “Kids need to do something real and meaningful. Drones are a new type of industry; there’s a lot of jobs of different kinds of drones but besides that, to use the drones you have to understand physics, you have to understand how to code,” says Valerie Kovach, STEAM coach and Special Education teacher at Albuquerque High School.
Kovach was the competition has seen significant growth over the past two years, with participation skyrocketing from 1,500 teams to well over 2,000 teams.