Public Hearing

By Jalyn Ware Staff Writer

When you graduate, options are important. A small group of students at U. City will not only receive their high school diploma on May 11, but will also be eligible to take the Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) licensure exam. If they pass, they will virtually be guaranteed a job making almost $30,000 a year. “The benefit [of] graduating with an EMT license is going right to work,” Susan Hill, Director of PK-12 College and Career Readiness and Access, said. “It’s also the prerequisite for a paramedic license and employment with the Fire Department.”

According to Hill, the School District of University City has launched a new Career and Technical Educational (CTE) program in partnership with the U. City Fire Department (UCFD).

“Students are there two days a week—Tuesday and Thursday—8 am

to 2 pm,” Hill said.

According to Hill and Clarence Ware, Adult Education Coordinator, courses are taught by University City Fire Department instructors and include career exploration. Also dual credit preparation classes for course certifications to enter the medical field.

“Taking this class gets us closer to things like becoming a paramedic, RN, or even a doctor,” Timothy Dailey, senior who participates in the program, said.

Students who successfully complete the course with a “C” or better will receive dual credit from St. Louis Community College. When a student graduates, the students will be prepared to enter the workforce as an EMT or may pursue a paramedic and then fire fighting career at St. Louis Community College.

“It gives us medical-based knowledge that can save lives,” Dailey said. “After completing this class, we’ll be able to graduate with a high-quality career and a good chance of expanding our education, especially in the medical field because we’ll have a strong base for medicine before we attend a college.”

Much of the program is handson training, although Hill and Ware said that topics for this course include medical legal considerations, basic anatomy and physiology, patient assessment, airway adjuncts and oxygen administration, cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR), managing traumatic injuries as well as medical emergencies, hazardous materials and ambulance operations.

“It’s broken up into lectures, labs and tests, so a good portion of it is hands on and we’ve already been CPR certified,” Dailey said. “Before we graduate, we need at least 60 hours of call time which includes being the EMT who responds to emergency calls.”

At their first session, Christian Hollloway and Timothy Dailey, seniors, perform CPR on a dummy as part of their physical test to complete their CPR certification. “So far it’s been super exciting just based on the things we’ve been told we will do and the responsibility we will have,” Dailey said. PHOTO COURTESY OF SUSAN HILL

Below: Showing off one of the ready-to-fly drones at last year’s STEM Expo, Emmett Feld, Sophomore, focuses on keeping the drone steady. “We were trying to show people what the drones can do and introduce them to our club,” said Feld. “I had to be careful because there were bleachers right next to where I was flying it.” PHOTO COURTESY OF J. RYNE DANIELSON Right: One of the aerial photos of the school building that Emmet Feld and Charlie Whitehead took as the pilot and spotter of the drone. PHOTO COURTESY OF COL. ROB JAKCSY

Drone Club takes off to navigate complex problems

By Grace Klein Web Editor

We live in the most technologically advanced era in history. Every year more advanced forms of technology are created and, when used properly, can do unimaginable tasks. For the past year, J-ROTC has been sponsoring a Drone Club to give students an opportunity to navigate the missions of high functioning drones as well as to engineer and build their own drones from scratch materials. The club was initiated by Col. Rob Jakcsy, the J-ROTC instructor, who wanted to open up a club that would teach students how to navigate complex projects and think critically on their own.

“I try to let them do the work independently and figure it out themselves,” Jakcsy said.

Drones have a variety of purposes; from intelligence gathering and communication for military, all the way to taking high quality aerial photos. Whatever the purpose may be-- the Drone Club wants to explore these options.

“I’ve already given them the mission to take aerial photos and they’ve learned how to do that,” Jakcsy said. “My goal is for them to learn about other missions.”

These high-tech drones have been made available to the club through a crowd sourcing platform known as DonorsChoose. The site allows teachers to put out a project idea on the site, while anonymous donors around the U.S. donate to help the projects take off. When the club was first formed last year, only a couple students opted to join. According to Emmett Feld, sophomore, who is one of the original members of the Drone Club, their first tasks last year were centered around engineering a drone, but this year the real action has begun.

“Ninety percent of our flying time has been this year,” said Feld. “Last year we didn’t have a lot of people and we only met once a week so all we were able to do last year was build the four motors and the frame.”

The process of building and flying a drone can be tricky and Feld admits they have had some technical issues with the drones.

“When we first tried to take off we didn’t take safety precautions; we had no control and it crashed and broke,” said Feld.

The custom-built drones differ from the ones that come ready-to-fly in their stability and overall performance.

“The ones that are already built are easy to stabilize and the camera has a built in stabilizer,” said Feld. “We used those ones to take aerial photos of all the schools in the district.”

The trick to using these drones safely and effectively, according to Feld, is to always have a second person keeping their eyes on the drone, known as a “spotter.” “A spotter makes sure they can always see the drone so that it doesn’t hit

someone,” said Feld. “The important thing is to not lose visual contact with it because it could come into contact with power lines.”

Along with Feld is newcomer and freshmen Charlie Whitehead. Whitehead participates in robotics and has drawn parallels between the two clubs.

“In robotics we build things from scratch which is basically what we do here,” said Whitehead. “I get more engineering experience doing both clubs.”

Despite the relatively low number of participating members, the club seems to be headed in the right direction.

“The main goal of the club is to learn, build, and have fun flying drones,” Whitehead said. “I would recommend it to anyone out there.”