From paper airplanes and drones to programming robots in space, the Aeronautics Club is coming to Arcadia High School (AHS), and it’s all about air science. Through hands-on projects, experiments, and team-based events, its purpose is to educate people and bring more attention to the field of aeronautics.
As humanity continues to push the limits in exploring the universe, aeronautics will play a crucial role in that discovery. The Aeronautics Club allows those who are eager to learn about this topic to be a part of this journey.
“We created this club to teach people about aeronautics and show them how it is used in the real-life world,” said Co-President sophomore Shaurya Sheth. “We wanted to dive into aviation topics in a way that’s engaging to everyone. It’s also an inspiration for future careers in aviation, designing spacecraft, and just about anything in the air.”
Led by a dedicated team of sophomores and juniors, the club aims to create a welcoming environment for students of all experiences and ages. Regular meetings will include career events and interactive workshops, such as experimenting with drones and model rockets. It will also be bringing in speakers who work in the professional aeronautics industry, along with hosting lessons in programming, aerodynamics, and robotics.
The club plans to incorporate a competition team, where highly skilled members will compete in high school and college-level competitions. One of the events includes a drone competition, where students will be challenged to program an autonomous drone, with only coding and sensors to complete set objectives. Then, competitors will start manually piloting it to score as many points as possible in the limited time frame. This will test the team’s ability to work under pressure with real-time strategies while ensuring that everything runs smoothly.
“Competition is a really important part of our club,” Vice President junior Jimmy Chen said. “Many of our meetings will center around training, building, and programming to prepare for competitions. They are also really fun to attend, even as a spectator, and everyone should try out!”
The Aeronautics Club also plans to compete in the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Kibo Robot Programming Challenge. The competition is open to both high school and undergraduate students. It involves programming Astrobee, a robot currently on board the International Space Station that helps the astronauts with simple tasks such as taking inventory and moving cargo.
Co-President sophomore Vincent Tan stated, “In the future, we plan on doing larger-scale projects, such as rockets and larger drone competitions.”
Students who join will learn a variety of valuable skills. Of course, they’ll have a better grasp of engineering, coding, and problem-solving with all the designs having to be made. However, they’ll also develop teamwork, communication, and leadership skills through the various team-based projects required.
The Aeronautics Club hopes to accomplish big things as the club grows. The club is not just a group of students interested in air science–it combines creativity and problem-solving skills to inspire everybody to aim for the skies.
