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Jun 13, 2023

TCESC unveils drone program

Aug 15, 2023 NILES — The Trumbull County Educational Service Center unveiled its Voltage Valley Young Dronepreneurs program Monday. Guests at the unveiling ceremony included U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce,

Aug 15, 2023

NILES — The Trumbull County Educational Service Center unveiled its Voltage Valley Young Dronepreneurs program Monday.

Guests at the unveiling ceremony included U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Bainbridge, and former U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, both of whom helped to secure $650,000 in federal funding to expand the drone program.

Through the program, Trumbull ESC said it hopes not only to provide further drone-racing opportunities for local schools but additional learning experiences and future career opportunities for students.

“When this grant originally came out there was a misnomer that it was just drone racing, and it is far from that,” Trumbull ESC Assistant Superintendent Robert Marino Jr. said.

Ed Mackiewicz, supervisor of curriculum and instruction at Trumbull ESC, outlined four pillars to the drone program. The first is opening of the Trumbull County Advanced Unmanned Air Mobility Center at Trumbull Career and Technical Center. Mackiewicz said juniors and seniors at the center will be introduced to unmanned aircrafts, learn to fly the devices and earn any required licenses or certifications.

The second pillar involves the development and implementation of a preapprenticeship program for students in Trumbull County schools. Mackiewicz said area teachers would be able to provide classes on drone technology that would allow students to earn credentials.

The third pillar described by Mackiewicz involved the introduction of entrepreneurship education and awareness of the unmanned aircraft industry for Trumbull students in sixth through eighth grades.

Finally, the program hopes to have more Trumbull County high schools participate in the Drones in School national racing league.

“(The program) kind of encompasses all of it,” Mackiewicz said. “Drone racing was kind of just a headline, and now we have these many integral parts of it to go with the initiative.”

Development work will begin during the 2023-24 school year with plans to have the program fully operational for the 2024-25 school year.

Grant funds will be used to complete the remodel of the 3,600 square foot ROTC lab at TCTC. The presentation said that new classroom and lab furniture, equipment, and materials will be purchased for the new drone lab. Applications will be accepted for admission into the program for incoming 11th grade students, the Class of 2026, at TCTC.

Also during the 2023-24 school year, Trumbull ESC will work with TCTC and EnvisionEdPlus to develop an ApprenticeOhio recognized preapprenticeship program, which will allow students to work toward earning industry-recognized credentials the following school year.

Trumbull ESC also will fund a startup for 22 area high schools that have expressed interest in participating in the Drones in School Racing League. Funds will be used to provide training for coaches and students and to furnish all materials needed for competition, including 3D printers for each team.

Trumbull ESC will provide training, material and resources for up to 25 area middle schools to offer the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship 20-lesson program for emerging entrepreneurs . It will provide connections with entrepreneurs and drone experts.

Mackiewicz also said the program is not simply about drone racing. Trumbull ESC is hoping to help students better position themselves for career opportunities in unmanned aircraft technology, he said.

“After high school there’s a few different pathways that we’re looking at for our students,” Mackiewicz said. “One would be to possibly go further with their education at Kent State University in their unmanned aircraft program. The second would be we have partnerships with the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics where they could go over and begin their program there.”

Mackiewicz said that Trumbull ESC also hopes that a partnership with Howmet Aerospace could be available for high school students in the future.

“We’re more or less trying to expose them to these technologies that are available and get them familiar,” he said. “Maybe it is that they want to start their own drone business, whether it’s doing photography or farming and agricultural work, we’re trying to expose them to show them that these careers exist.”

Funds for the program were secured through the U.S. departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education, as well as related agencies. Both Joyce and Ryan helped to secure the funding.

“We need to train kids for the jobs that exist,” Joyce said. “This is not only an existing job, but it is a growing field. Too often, STEM technology and STEM learning isn’t applied to everywhere; it’s only in certain school districts. We want to make it available for everyone, because especially now as we’re converting to the Voltage Valley, there’s so much opportunity down there and there’s so many different applications for the STEM education to be part of the growing workforce down here.”

Ryan said he believes the program is important for keeping students engaged in their learning and keeping them as part of the workforce in the Valley after they graduate.

“If we want our kids to stay here and have opportunity here and work in the jobs of the future, you’ve got to make school fun,” Ryan said. “We’ve got to give them skills and credentials that they need in order to be successful. I think there’s going to be a lot of kids that are going to be thinking that this is a pretty cool program for them to be getting into.”

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