Mat-Su students get high-tech insight at first drone career day

What you need to know:

• Wasilla High School hosted a drone industry demonstration Thursday led by Valdez-based AK Drone, giving students exposure to high-tech equipment and real-world career options.
• Officials at the event showcased several high-tech drones and discussed the growing demand for drone skills across Alaska industries, including mining, construction, surveying and biology.
• The event is part of the school district’s broader career and technical education efforts to connect students with potential career paths through interactive experiences.

• Short on time but need the local news scoop? Get free weekly news in your inbox for Mat-Su, from Mat-Su.

WASILLA – Dozens of Wasilla High School students huddled against the breeze in the school parking lot Thursday for a first-of-its-kind career exploration class in Mat-Su: high-tech drone operations.

Officials with Valdez-based AK Drone staged four one-hour classes for students over the day, demonstrating drones equipped with cameras and mapping sensors, answering questions, discussing how the technology is used in a wide variety of Alaska industries, and giving pointers on how interested students can use drones as part of their future careers.

The class was one of about six interactive career events organized this school year by the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District as part of its 200 in-school career and technical education, or CTE, courses, district officials said.  Wasilla High School was selected for Thursday’s demonstration because robotics teacher Leslie Wangeman coordinated with the district and AK Drone co-founder Thomas Trapp to arrange it.

Students at the event watched as Trapp and his team navigated a drone equipped with light detection and ranging, or LiDAR, sensors and a camera over the parking lot and high school football field.

The sensors provide 3D imagery that can be overlaid with color video to provide mapping and imaging information for mining, construction, law enforcement, or even wildlife counting operations, Trapp said. They use a Wingtra autonomous drone, also on display, for surveying, he said, while hand-size drones can be used for video and are designed to track a single person’s movements.

The drones can cost about $40,000 each after they are equipped with cameras or other imaging technology, Trapp said. But for students who want to get drone licenses, which are available through a simple online certification process, and get trained on a specific use or platform, the sky is the limit in the growing industry, he said.

“There’s kind of a place for everybody in this industry, whether you work for another company and you’re doing drones for them, or you work specifically for a drone company, or you work for a contractor or a construction company,” Trapp told the students. “There are so many different use cases, and we’re seeing it just pop up everywhere.”

Wasilla High School freshman Jack Hughes, 15, said he’s familiar with drone operations because his father, a hydrologist, uses them. He said he is interested in learning more about construction or architectural drafting, two technical classes he is taking.

Junior Alexis Sipos, 16, said she appreciates the wide variety of hands-on experiences she has access to through the school’s career and technical classes.

“I don’t think a lot of people get to learn about drones or have people come to them,” she said.

Classes like Wednesday’s drone demonstration are part of Mat-Su’s heavy emphasis on equipping high school students with a career path as soon as they graduate, said Emily DaLuz, a district CTE curriculum coordinator.

“The goal is to definitely get them prepared for work right after high school — even work if they’re going to go to college and need to work as they go,” she said. “With CTE, they’re getting a chance to explore different areas and figure out what they want to be doing and what they like.”

Next year, DaLuz hopes to bring in even more industry experts like Trapp, who donated his time Thursday to give students a first-hand view of career options and how they can get involved.

Trapp said spending time with the students is more than worth it if even one is inspired to enter the industry. “That kid right there, being excited about drones and wanting to use it somehow in the work he does in the future, and he’s totally inspired? That would be an awesome outcome,” he said.

Information on what the district spends each year on CTE classes was not immediately available. While the classes are likely to feel some squeeze from upcoming district budget cuts, a significant portion will be protected because it receives funding from federal programs, said Ashley Kelly, a CTE district guidance counselor.

-- Contact Amy Bushatz at contact@matsusentinel.com