Valley Stream 30 students inaugurate drone competition

Drones were abuzz in Shaw Avenue Elementary School’s gymnasium as students from within Valley Stream District 30 raced to complete a variety of challenging tasks in the district’s inaugural DroneBlock Championship.

Teams of 4th and 5th grade students from Clear Stream Avenue, Forest Road, and Shaw Avenue schools assembled on Feb. 11 to face off. An obstacle course with several stages presented multiple challenges for the teams to navigate their drones to complete the “mission.” First, writing a series of codes on the spot, participants launched their drones and had them land inside different rings assigned point scores. Then as one student manually piloted the drone, other team members directed them through several hoops before making a clean landing on a desk. Next, they took careful measurements and assembled code to prompt the drone up, over, and in between two chairs. The competition was capped off by a final challenge that mimicked real-life rescue operations. With a magnet attached to the drone via a string, the teams picked up paper clips and carried them to safety.

After the points were tallied, the Forest Road team came out on top with Shaw Avenue following in second place and Clear Stream in third.

Each team featured three students led by a coach. Competitors included Clear Stream’s Tristan Grey, Lucas Mata, and Christopher Lawrence led by coach Jake Winston; Forest Road’s Maya Maldonado, Bria Folkes, and Devyn Lee-Brode led by coach Heather Graham; and Shaw Avenue’s Abrielle Boodhoo, Ram Ahmed and Jaleigh Patterson led by coach Christopher Gianesses.