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Team Members
David Sumner ‘26, Songxaun Jimmy Wu ‘24, Evan Anderson ‘26, Beck Gritzner ‘26

WOODSTOCK — The Woodstock Academy’s first-ever drone team wrapped up its successful inaugural season in late May at a national competition hosted by Fairmont State University in West Virginia. The drone team, which is comprised of members of WA’s robotics club, competed at various competitions from August through late May. Events include Vex, Seaperch, Drones in School, TSA, MultiGP, and Aerial Drones.
Back in March, team members David Sumner ‘26 and Songxaun Wu ’24 (team one), and Evan Anderson ’26 and Beck Gritzner ‘26 (team two) both secured first place at the inaugural CT Aerial Drone Competition in Winsted and received additional recognition awards for their inspiration and excellence. The win also qualified them to compete in the national competition in West Virginia, where the two teams made it to the quarterfinals and ranked 9th in the country overall out of 62 teams and 155 matches, and 5th in the country in coding.
“The national competition was sponsored by NASA,” said Peter Sumner, career and technology teacher and advisor of the drone team. “Students had the opportunity to talk to the engineers that designed a half-scale drone [Dragonfly], which is the drone being sent to explore Saturn’s Titan Moon.”
The Aerial Drone Competition offers an exciting educational drone sporting event that focuses on hands-on, student-centered learning. Teams learn about drones, flight principles, programming, documentation and communication skills while expanding their understanding and building their interest for Drone-related workforce and career opportunities. At The Academy, students learn these hands-on skills necessary to enter these competitions, and code and operate drones in a wide variety of settings.
“Teamwork, problem-solving, and ingenuity are all on display at a competition event and students develop these skills all year long by participating on a robotics team,” said Dan Mantz, CEO of the Robotics Education and Competition (REC) Foundation. “Together, with the support of educators, coaches, and mentors, we’re fostering students’ passion for STEM at a young age to ensure that we have a generation that is dedicated to creating new discoveries and tackling life’s future challenges.”

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