Cadets from the Virginia Wing’s William P. Knight Composite Squadron teamed up with Scouts from their area this week at EAA Adventure to finish second nationally in the Beginner Division of the Academy of Model Aeronautics UAS4STEM drone competition.
The five Beginners Division teams, which also included an Alabama Wing entry consisting of four cadets in the Redstone Composite Squadron and two in the Mountain Lakes Composite Squadron, competed in carrying out the fundamentals of drone program and flying.
Another team from the Redstone Composite Squadron competed in the Advanced Division, as did a team from the Maryland Wing’s St. Mary’s Composite Squadron. Those teams worked to develop a mechanism to pick up and transport items to different locations.
UAS4STEM is the Academy for Model Aeronautics’ Unmanned Aerial Systems for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math program.
The Virginia Wing “55 Knights” team, which earned a $1,000 check by placing second, consisted of:
Cadet Capt. & Scouts BSA Troop 55B Life Scout Thomas Ye
Cadet 2nd Lt. Jimmy Do
Cadet 2nd Lt. Annabelle Eggers
Cadet 2nd Lt. & Troop 55B Life Scout Qihong Liang
Cadet Airman 1st Class Ojasvi Ramani
Cadet Airman 1st Class Jackson Whitt
Cadet Airman Joshua Murrell
Troop 55G Life Scout Joy He
Troop 55B First Class Scout Alexander Fang
Troop 55B Scout Cary Zhang
“I’m in awe of this team and proud of the way they melded together and worked to accomplish such a challenging task,” said Capt. Alice Chan, assistant team manager. “From total newbies and even a tree crash mid-mission, it goes to show the capabilities of these cadets and scouts that they were able to complete the mission successfully and placed second place among other great talents.”
“Seeing members from two different American youth organizations, cadets from Civil Air Patrol and scouts from Scouting America, working together to exercise leadership and teamwork to accomplish the UAS4STEM competition makes me really proud of these future STEM leaders of our nation!” added 1st Lt. Jeff Ye, team manager.
