CANFIELD, Ohio – Warren G. Harding High School junior LeoraAda Sims wants to study zoology or veterinary science and learned from her counselor that drones are used in those professions.
“He was saying that drones can help you look around the animals and stuff like that,” LeoraAda explained.
She enrolled in her school’s drone class and was one of about 150 students from 14 schools across the region to attend the second annual Northeast Ohio Future Pilots Drone Showcase on Tuesday at Youngstown State University Williamson Innovation Park. The showcase was presented by the Educational Service Center of Eastern Ohio.
By midmorning, LeoraAda had learned a lot, and the event piqued her interest in the technology.
“I’ve learned that drones can be really big and fly super high,” she said.
One drone, brought to the showcase by Warbuck’s Drone Services of Salem, weighs about 75 pounds, can carry nearly 200 pounds and costs about $33,000. The company uses it primarily for agriculture. Warbuck’s services span thermal, agricultural and surveying. Among its work, the company recovers deer, finds lost pets and sprays crops.
Nick Mozingo, a pilot and co-owner, said Warbuck’s operates in about an hour radius from its base.
Students love the technology, he said. Whenever the company is working with the large drone, they stop traffic. People ask about the device and about how the company uses it.
“We’re like celebrities on the side of the road,” he said jokingly.
Rob Eggleston, lead career counselor at the ESC of Eastern Ohio, said all the students who attended Tuesday’s event are in drone programs at their schools.
“So it’s kind of like a highly upgraded career fair, where they’re actually able to get out and meet with drone operators in different sectors,” Eggleston said. “So you have from agriculture, law enforcement, inspections and so on. But they’re able to actually come out, and instead of just talking to somebody, they’re able to see these drones and see them in action and see what they actually do.”
That delivers more impact than a conventional career fair where students visit tables, chat with a professional and pick up pamphlets, he said.
Students in the drone programs at the participating schools are learning basics of drones and their applications.
“So if they decide to go into a career in it, they can kind of choose what applications they’d like to use,” Eggleston said.
Vance Kinnick and Hunter Wellman, Mahoning County Career & Technical Center engineering students, quickly picked up the knack for maneuvering the drone at First Choice Drone Solutions of Alliance.
“I got into it when I was little,” said Hunter, a junior from Campbell. “Me and my dad had the hobby ones, and we’d fly them around. … I just really like tinkering around with them. Me and Vance are both in Skills USA for the drone competition. I think it would be really cool to have my own business, eventually taking pictures with drones or doing surveying. I really like the piloting aspect.”
Vance, a senior from Jackson Milton Schools, enjoys flying drones too. Last year, he used a drone to record his school’s homecoming parade.
“I just like them because it’s a nice way to either have fun or it’s a nice way to, with a side gig, make money on the side,” he said.
First Choice Drone Solutions specializes in thermal inspections and construction mapping. Tyler Oakes, program manager with the company, accepted Eggleston’s invitation to attend the drone showcase to show students how the technology is used. And the students took to it.
“They love it,” Oakes said. “A lot of them are just naturals at it already because of playing video games and clicking on the screens.”
Dustin Moore, a senior at Harding, plans to study electrical technology next year at New Castle School of Trades. But he sees possibilities in a drone business too.
“I took the class because I wanted to learn how to fly drones because I know a lot of sporting events now have drones, and that’s something I might want to do later on in life,” he said.
Lori Orr is the engineering drawing and drones teacher at Harding. About 40 students are enrolled in her classes with two levels, one year each. The 14 students who attended Tuesday’s event are in the first-level class.
She hopes the students learn that there are bigger drones than the ones they use in class. Licensure is required to fly drones outdoors, so at school they fly drones inside that are classified toys. The second-level class starts with test preparation for a pilot’s license and introduces students to available careers.
Eggleston said the showcase aims to be memorable for students.
“It’s something completely different,” he said. “And at the ESC of Eastern Ohio, that’s what we want to do. We don’t just want them to walk around the tables and say hi and take some candy and go. Everything we do – the skilled trades expo, the mock interview – it’s all hands on. It’s all: Come experience what you’re going to be doing in the future.”
Pictured at top: Warren G. Harding High School students Dustin Moore and LeoraAda Sims with a drone from Warbuck’s Drone Services.