During National Drone Safety Awareness Week (NDSAW) in November, students from the Global Air Drone Academy (GADA), a nonprofit organization that is bridging the race and gender gap in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) education and careers, got the chance to sit down and have a discussion with FAA Administrator Steve Dickson.

During the conversation, Administrator Dickson talked about his experience, what got him into aviation, and provided the students with valuable advice as they start and/or continue their STEAM education. Some of the students also got the chance to pitch different projects that they’ve worked on during GADA’s Virtual Drone Club, which is a free virtual meet up for youth and young adults interested in drone technology and other STEAM activities.

Most of the ideas that the students pitched focused on real world, practical applications surrounding the ongoing global pandemic. Some of the ideas included using drones to spray disinfectant in large areas, or using a drone with a speaker to send out messages to the public.

An opportunity for the youth to talk to such a high-ranking government official is mutually beneficial, according to Eno Umoh, co-founder of GADA. Obviously, a conversation like this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for most kids, but it’s also extremely valuable for the FAA as well, as members of the agency get a chance to directly connect to the next generation of potential drone pilots, engineers and innovators, and see things from their perspective.  

“Typically, they’re writing the regulations,” Umoh tells AUVSI. “They’re talking to other experts, but this is a good way for them to have a pulse on the next generation.”

For the students, hearing from someone with so much influence makes everything tangible, and it shows that lofty expectations are attainable. 

“I think it makes the experience of going through our classes and learning about drones all the more real,” says Austin Brown, co-founder of GADA.  

Changing perspectives, and possibly lives

In 2015, Umoh and Brown, both of whom are FAA-licensed pilots, launched Global Air Media, a licensed drone services provider that offers premium services in cinema, mapping, disaster aid and education.

Umoh and Brown launched their business with a plan to capitalize on the sizable impacts that drones have through cinematography, industrial inspection, disaster relief, and aerial mapping. Despite some minor turbulence along the way, they managed to achieve all of their goals in all of those fields safely and efficiently. As the company experienced success, it saw an opportunity to make a much more profound impact on the lives of children in its community.

In 2016, Global Air Media was presented with an opportunity to speak to a group of children in the Penn North neighborhood of Baltimore. The group was part of Kid Safe Zone, an organization that provided a safe education experience for children in a neighborhood that captured national attention for civil unrest following the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody. 

The group of 10, mostly middle school and high school aged youth, welcomed Global Air Media into their neighborhood, but there was some reluctance to give their full attention to Umoh and Brown. Fortunately, the men had a great equalizer on their side: drones.

“The one thing we learned in our first camp at Kid Safe Zone was, when teaching kids, embrace creativity,” Brown writes in a blog post.

“We had a plan and a curriculum based on our own experience, videos we produced, and knowledge about the drone industry, but we had to translate that into an experience that was relatable to our students. So we did the one thing that every drone pilot wants to do — fly!”

After Umoh and Brown introduced themselves and went through basic safety rules, they took the kids out to fly and according to Brown, “they were hooked and so were we.” The first camp was a “resounding success” that led to more opportunities to teach individuals across the globe about drones. 

The success of the first camp led directly to the next camp, which proved to be a pivotal moment in the life of at least one child. The student said that when she started the camp, she wanted to be nurse, but after getting the chance to build a drone, she had changed her mind and now wanted to be an engineer.

“We knew right then that we had the capacity and the ability to broaden people’s horizons and change their perspectives, and possibly their lives,” Brown says.

Umoh notes that from Global Air Media’s inception, him and Brown knew that they were going to be one of the few black owned companies in this industry. One of the reasons that the two decided to launch the Global Air Drone Academy was to target their community, and have students young and old understand that this is an industry that they can have a career in. Even if students don’t go into a career specifically focused on drones, if they feel compelled to go into a career with some sort of STEAM-focus, Umoh and Brown will have achieved their goal.

“It’s bigger than drones,” Umoh says. “As long as they’re in a STEAM career, that’s the crux of it right there.”

Chipping away at the race and gender gap

After the initial opportunity to speak to kids in their own backyard in Baltimore City, Umoh and Brown have grown an organization that has taught over 6,500 children around the globe about STEAM, entrepreneurship and drone safety. To ensure they are proficient in drone safety and entrepreneurship when they leave, GADA’s Junior Pilots take tests and assessments throughout the program. They also learn how to build drones through GADA’s build-a-drone workshops.

GADA has faced its fair share of challenges along the way, whether it be developing its own curriculum, sourcing parts for its own drone kits, or launching its first product, “Drone Camp-in-a-box.” But through relationships with various partners such as the FAA and the U.S. Commerce Department, GADA has been able to enhance its capabilities and reach more kids than Umoh and Brown previously imagined.

The effort to reach more kids is continuing into 2021, as Umoh recently re-located to Nigeria to launch an academy in Lagos. GADA is also continuing to roll out its Drone Camp-in-a-box, which includes a DJI Tello drone, a GADA activity guide with five lessons, and full access to Drone Cadets Virtual Boot Camp, among other items.

For Brown, all of these endeavors are designed to meet GADA’s mission of increasing diversity in STEAM education and careers, which starts with exposing kids early and letting them know what this field has to offer.

“The ultimate goal is to reach more kids and continue to chip away at the gender and race divide in the industry, and make this technology more accessible,” Brown says.

“Once they’re exposed and they know that there’s an opportunity out there, they want to chase it. So it’s really just about making sure that the opportunity is attainable.”