If you're in North Dakota and have a child or young relative that could be enticed to learn about unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), you may want to sign them up for the second annual Drone Camp for Kids in Tioga this weekend. According to the Williston Herald, Tioga Economic Development and Enel Green Energy North America have partnered up to provide an organized set and setting to provide young people with the tools to learn about drone use.
According to the WillistonHerald, the Tioga Drone Camp for Kids - which won the 2016 Impact Award for Community Development by the Economic Development Association of North Dakota—will run from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday. This time, it's aided by other local science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) camps in the state, and will teach 80 kids on each day. Besides the aforementioned focus on privacy, safety, and responsible racing of drones, the camp will also concern itself with realistic vocational areas that these skills could be used for. Which areas exactly, we do not yet know, but presumably the Tioga camp is smart enough to know that programming, engineering, and mathematics are tools that the passion for UAVs can sneak into a child's mind.
In addition, there'll be a drone obstacle course the kids will have to face. If I were a child and this was my first experience with a drone, I'd be over the moon with excitement at this prospect. Sounds like fun! The obstacle course will be looked over by the Minot Aeroport Hobby Shoppe, according to the WillistonHerald.
The camp's primary counselor will be Erin Wood from the Lake Region College and Keith Aubin from Enel Green Energy North America Inc. Once students have completed this two-day camp, they'll each get a free drone to take home. Now that's what I call a reward - flying drones around for two days and then getting one for free? Amazing! Not only that, but public schools in Tioga will get 3D printers, presumably donated by either the Tioga Economic Development organization or Enel Green Energy North America Inc.
If you want to enroll a young tyke you may know who's excited by motorized toys or who'd probably love to learn about drones, head to the EventBright page and sign up. There's also a far more detailed schedule of the camp's two-day itinerary there, for your consideration.