At Downingtown High School East Campus, the incorporation of a drone to a multitude of school events will start to affect the student body throughout 2015-16. The school district’s approval of the usage of a drone has sparked interest in students, teachers, and parents.

The addition of the drone will alter a multitude of aspects throughout the school. Last year the drone was first used at graduation. Thomas Crockett(11) said, “In the spring of last year we received the drone, so the only event that we could use it for was graduation. We’re pretty excited to use the drone so we wanted to get as many events at graduation as we could, such as throwing the caps at the end, walking in, and the graduates receiving their diplomas.”

On the first day of the 2015-16 school year, the drone was used to capture the student lives. Video Applications Teacher, Mr. Robinson, said, “One of the videos we’ve already done was the first day of school video and we allowed the students to see themselves walking into school as well as have an aerial view of the student parking lot and the buses coming in.” Additionally, the school technology department will try to incorporate the drone into sporting events and other parts of student life. As a student involved considerably in the technological advancement of the school Crockett said, “We want to get more videos of football games, other sporting events, and the student section as well as do some events at the East vs West game. Also, we are going to try and get as much footage as we can during spirit week and at the bonfire. The main objective is to incorporate the drone into student life and bring a futuristic view to students and give parents, teachers, other students, etc. inside look at the events that happen in our school.” Alterations in school events by the tech department’s addition of the drone have changed a multitude of situations.

The modern advancement in technology at the school was caused by the efficiency of the drone. Mr. Mountz, a science teacher, said, “It is a more efficient way of getting the camera up high. In previous years, we have had to get the camera onto a lift and it cost more money to set up while a drone can lift the camera up high for you and is easier to set up.” Since the drone is easier to use, the school can capture more events occurring throughout the school year with the drone. Also the drone gives a different outlook on events. Crockett said, “Now that we have the drone we want to try to incorporate it into all of the school events, so we can give students a bird’s eye view of the events. That’s something that we wanted to provide for people since people do not usually see these types of views and it is an unique experience.” The school was inspired by the popularity of drones as well. Mr. Robinson said, “We went to the University of Penn and we saw the college students experimenting with the drones through tests.” Not only was the school inspired by the drone, but also the school wants to encourage students to start to learn the technology. Crockett said, “Teaching students how to use the drone safely and understanding how this new technology has affected the film industry by allowing filmmakers to do more in less time, organize their shots easier, and no usage of expensive equipment. Hopefully the drone will peak interest for a career in this field as well. It’s definitely something that we want to teach students about since the media sheds a negative light on the drone attacks, yet the drones can be incorporate in a positive part of our future. It’s a really great learning experience for all of us here.”

A multitude of alterations will occur with the addition of the drone at school events. Therefore the usage of the drone will be the first in the school district as physics teacher, Mr. Mountz, said, “We are inspired by the potential of drones.”