See highlights from this national drone championship in Columbus — and why it matters
“Drones are absolutely the future of our nation, and that means you are the future of our nation.”
With those words, U.S. Army Col. Karen Rutka, chief of staff of the U.S. Army Cadet Command, welcomed competitors to the JROTC All-Service National Drone Championship in Columbus .
“Whether you’re part of an aerial envelopment, whether you are delivering urgent supplies to a hospital, or whether you are inspecting critical infrastructure,” she continued, “what you do matters and what you do over the next two days is going to help you build on that future.”
Seventy-four teams, representing Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) programs, competed May 22-23 in the event at the Columbus Convention and Trade Center.
“They have competitions throughout their footprint, in their different states, and they actually have to qualify to make it to this event,” said Keith Williams, curriculum manager for the U.S. Army JROTC program, operating under the U.S. Army Cadet Command (USACC).
Williams said the drone curriculum is among the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics(STEM) programs they provide for JROTC programs.
The Army JROTC team from White County High School in Cleveland, Georgia, won the all around championship at the competition. Awards were presented in several categories, including teamwork mission, skills missions, communications mission, coding and airmanship.
“If they carry those skills into the military, that’s a huge boon for the services, but really it’s how do we make them better citizens and better for the nation,” Rutka said.
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