ODESSA, Texas — Every summer Odessa College hosts special sessions aimed at area youth to give them opportunities to continue growing and learning over the summer vacation. This year's College for Kids is in full swing and this week students in the Drone Camp have been busy in the campus Fab Lab as they work to bring their ideas into flight.
Assistant Director of the Fab Lab, Nicholas Harrison says this class is much more than just flying drones, "The entire idea of the Fab Lab is that you can imagine something, design it, then create it. It’s a lot more than just a Drone Camp…its learning how things work, how to take them apart, how to put them back together and use all the equipment that we have in the Fab Lab".
Students in the Drone Camp utilize multiple skills and areas of study. They learn about aerodynamics, how electronics work, even symmetry and geometry.
The week-long all day camp has been going since Monday and students are furiously working to complete their projects and see their concepts actually take flight.
Harrison says not all ideas are successful in the first pass and not all students get their drone off the ground on their initial launch. Harrison states this is just part of the design process, and if the young designers get discouraged he's there to inspire them, "Giving up is not an option, the students are encouraged to go back and rework their designs until they reach success".
Odessa College offers a multitude of camps ranging in a variety of areas from culinary arts, to ceramic works, and art and math courses.
Camps will run through out the month of June with three more sessions still to come. For details and information visit the OC College For Kids website here.
