Model Aeronautics Competition Starts in Hollywood

The Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) began its first year of compeititon, and St. Mary’s County was the first location for regional competitions that have been scheduled throughout the country. The Patuxent Aeromodelers RC Club hosted the first leg of the year’s events on April 23 and 24, 2016, in Hollywood, MD, with support from The Patuxent Partnership.

The AMA is the host organization for UAS4STEM. This organization encourages teamwork, competition, and success in an education platform that is based in STEM. The new UAS4STEM program provides teams for four to eight students with insurance, training, licensing, and equipment to compete in search-and-rescue challenges. The AMA Education department manages the competitions as part of the 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.”

There are six competitions going on this year in states from the East Coast to Midwest to the West Coast. The 75 participating teams must complete an online curriculum that includes safety training, building and programming, and flight training.

Teams had to pay an introductory fee of $1,995, which included licenses for each student, a Quadzilla quadcopter kit, the necessary support equipment, a full online curriculum, an series of online videos, AMA student memberships, and competition entry fees. Teams were limited to eight members, who had to be between 11 and 19 years old to participate.

Registration for next year’s challenge begins June 1, 2016. To learn more about the competition, visit the UAS4STEM website.

AMA embraces new technology and continues to increase its educational efforts. The organization has granted more than $900,000 in scholarships to youth members who plan to pursue higher education, and reached a milestone of 50,000 students in its AMA Youth program in 2015. More information about AMA’s educational resources can be found on the organization’s website.

To learn more about The Patuxent Partnership and its programs, visit its Leader Page.