Jim Bonnardel
The “Girls Take Flight” program is using our field, let’s promote their activities! Desiree Elkstien is the club member and I.P. Instructor with AMA.
We have granted her access to the field (she is a club member) for her program.
Here is her text:
“The Elementary Institute of Science’s newest program, Girls Take Flight, is an in-depth program to train female high school students to build and fly drones, and become FAA certified drone pilots. Launched in February 2018, this program started with an assembly at EIS where 60 girls attended to learn about drones and drone careers. 20 were selected to participate in a week-long camp where they gained experience flying drones and using computer code to control them. For the final phase, 10 girls were selected to complete 120 hours of training over 32 weeks. They are building their own drone, conducting practice flights, visiting local drone-related businesses, and studying for their FAA certification test. Eventually producing a project with drones. Girls Take Flight targets girls as high school juniors, a critical period when they are deciding whether to attend college and what topics to study.
Many thanks to the generous supporters and drone community partners that have helped Girls Take Flight to take off and reach for the sky. The program is funded by The San Diego Foundation’s Science Technology Fund, Las Patronas, Nordson Foundation, General Atomics, SDG&E, Northrop Grumman, the MIT Club, and the United Technologies African American Forum. Thanks to SEFSD for providing us with the RotorPlex to train at.”
