TERRA BELLA - Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella launched a drone challenge contest for high school students from Porterville Unified School District Pathways programs. The students received drones from Setton Farms and engaged in a six months long highly technical challenge to build the drones, design them, program them, test them, learn to fly them, and come up with an idea of how they can be used.
A ceremony at Setton Pistachio Farms on Friday allowed student teams from Porterville Military Academy, Academy of Aviation and Leadership who had four drone teams, Harmony Magnet Academy, Academy of Engineering with two teams, Granite Hills High School Academy of Computer Operations, CODE, Team, and Strathmore HIgh School Academy of Emerging Agricultural Technology Team to participate.
Mia Cohen of Setton congratulated the students and said they all deserved a round of applause for all their hard work. The students learned how to solve engineering problems, and Cohen said the contest was off to a good start. "Thank you for being a part of this."
Lee Cohen, Setton general manager, spoke about donating the drone kits, all the parts and pieces the students had to assemble, program, connect, and all the software that had to be uploaded as well as learn to control and fly the drone and give a presentation about what they learned to judges for the competition.
Each school had teams and they had project boards explaining and showing what they worked on for the many months of the project.
PUSD Board President Lillian Durbin praised the work of the students and said, "Aren't these students amazing. Technology will blow you away."
Director of PUSD Pathways Cynthia Brown welcomed the student teams, dedicated advisors, and valued community stakeholders to the inaugural challenge, and spoke about the incredible innovation and achievements of the students involved, and the growing partnership between education and industry Setton helped foster by helping the next generation of tech leaders.
She thanked Setton for their vision and commitment to empowering young minds saying PUSD and Pathways was honored to be aligned with such a forward-thinking partner who has made an extraordinary impact on local education.
Principals Jeff Brown from HMA and Jacob Bowker from Granite Hills were there, as well Commandant Fred Dohnke from PMA, and Principal Andrew Peterson from SHS. Technical Advisors like Code Pathway Lead Cody Diliberto and others were also there.
Connor Lanning from PMA Team 1 said his team learned a lot. He spoke about learning how to set up the drone and problem solving when they couldn't identify what they'd programmed. They learned how to solder, and correct problems when they happened and learned a lot about technology. They also learned to work with the other teams at their school.
All of the students spoke about what they learned, the challenges and problems they encountered with the project, how they learned to fly the drones, and learning programming.
Some of the students encountered problems managing their school work and working on the drone challenge, and they also encountered problems with teammates leaving, and learning to work together and learning how to take time and work carefully.
The missions or applications students used varied. They ranged from traffic analysis in small towns, campus security, keeping rodents away from crops, surveying farm land for irregularities, irrigation, tracking and safety of cadets at PMA, collecting data and relaying it to the police department.
Team GRID from Granite Hills built their drone in a week, but realized they had overlooked details. They had to order new parts, then check it, and it worked correctly. They learned to problem solve, but the drone wasn't flying correctly. They fixed it with a counterweight and it worked. They learned the propellers spun too fast and melted. And the weather impacted the way the drone worked.
Team GRID also filmed and edited their own website. Christian Gutierrez said they learned to launch the drone. But they also learned they needed to properly communicate with the team and be more organized. When that happened they all worked much better on the project together.
They also learned they needed to work on the project slowly, taking their time to learn about important processes and be thorough.
After talking about all of their drone projects to the audience and judges, answering questions and explaining what they found, students from Porterville Military Academy teams and the GRID team from Granite Hills demonstrated their drone flying skills outside in the Setton parking lot.
After the judges made their decisions, everyone went back inside for the awards ceremony.
Mia Cohen thanked Cynthia Brown for her leadership, and Brown thanked Setton Farms for understanding the partnership between industry and education. The students were able to branch out and learn to innovate with technology. Brown also thanked Durbin and all of the educators and community and industry leaders present.
Granite Hills GRID Team won 1st place, and the school received $5,000 and the students received $500 each.
Porterville Military Academy Team 1, won 2nd place, and the school received $2,500 and the students received $250 each.
Porterville Military Academy Team 3, won 3rd place, and the school received $1,000 and the students received $250 each.
All the other students received $250 each.
Gilbert Bareng, who was one of the judges in the Setton Drone Challenge commended Setton for what they were doing for the community. He said, "It's very easy to lose sight of the talents that we have here at home. But Setton has recognized that potential is everywhere, and they have invested in our children."
Before the awards and after the presentation Bareng, who's a technical expert, said the projects were all about teamwork, and they were a life lesson. The students needed to learn to be resourceful using the tools available today. They have the courage, he said, and they are able to express their motivation and creativity. And drones can be used to innovate, and they can be used with technology in any industry.