Youth Teams To Compete In Seven UAS4STEM Regional Competitions Nationwide

The Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA), host organization for UAS4STEM, in conjunction with six AMA clubs, has selected the regional locations for its first year of competition. The national competition will be held at the International Aeromodeling Center, located in Muncie, IN on August 21, 2016.

UAS4STEM was designed by the AMA to encourage teamwork, competition, and success through a STEM-based education platform. The new UAS4STEM program will provide student teams of four to eight people with training, insurance, licensing, and equipment to compete in search-and-rescue challenges. The program is managed by AMA’s Education department as part of AMA Flight School.
 
“AMA is thrilled to have 75 teams competing in our UAS4STEM challenge,” said AMA President Bob Brown. “We are blown away by the response we have received in the [inaugural] year and believe this will be a wonderful program that will help us with our mission to provide education through aviation.”
 
Each of the 75 teams will be required to complete an online curriculum that includes safety training, programming and building information, and flight training.
 
The registration period for this year’s challenge has ended. Teams paid the introductory fee of $1,995, which included licenses for each student, a Quadzilla quadcopter kit, all necessary support equipment (except a laptop computer), a full online curriculum, an online video series, AMA memberships for the students, and competition entry fees. Teams were limited to eight members, who had to be between 11 and 19 years old to participate.
 
Regional competition locations and hosting clubs include:
 
Hollywood, Maryland
Patuxent Aeromodelers
RC Club
April 23-24, 2016
 
White Lake, Michigan
Pontiac Miniature
Aircraft Club
April 30, 2016
 
San Diego, California
Silent Electric Flyers
May 7, 2016
 
Ball Ground, Georgia
Georgia Model Aviators
May 21, 2016
 
Fargo, North Dakota
Valley RC Flyers
June 4, 2016
 
Wenatchee, Washington
Wenatchee Red Apple Flyers
July 7, 2016

Registration for next year’s challenge begins June 1, 2016.
 
AMA continues to embrace new technology and increase its educational efforts. AMA has granted more than $900,000 in scholarships to Youth members wishing to pursue higher education, and reached a milestone of 50,000 students in its AMA Youth program in 2015.

(Source: AMA news release)

FMI: www.uas4stem.org, www.amaflightschool.org