Cross Creek High School students soar with aviation, drone instruction program

Miguel Legoas, Augusta Chronicle
·2 min read

CORRECTION: An earlier version incorrectly identified the student at the bottom of this story. His name is Leandre Abraham. The story has been updated.

Many schools work to take their students to new heights, but Cross Creek High School is doing it literally.

The school's aviation program takes its students through the fundamentals of aerospace, flight operations, and ultimately to the unmanned aircraft systems component.

The students are given small drones with cameras that stream live to smart phones, which are hooked into controllers similar to standard video-game controllers. They not only learn how to fly the drones up, down, and across the school's football field, but also how to bob and weave through obstacle courses.

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Cross Creek High School freshman Makayla Williams flies a drone during her Unmanned Aircraft Systems class on October 17, 2022 in Augusta, Georgia.
Cross Creek High School freshman Makayla Williams flies a drone during her Unmanned Aircraft Systems class on October 17, 2022 in Augusta, Georgia.

Junior Damontrez Ryan laughed as he thought back to his first time flying drones.

"I kept hitting things, (but) once you start getting that feel of how the drone works, how it feels, messing around with the controls, it's just easy as cake," he said. "It basically comes to you as muscle memory."

The ultimate goal is for students to earn their commercial drone license. Their instructor is Dennis Merion, a former joint terminal attack controller, who specializes in aircraft combat.

Cross Creek High School sophomore Brandon Gibbons watches the flight path of a drone he's controlling during his Unmanned Aircraft Systems class on October 17, 2022 in Augusta, Georgia.
Cross Creek High School sophomore Brandon Gibbons watches the flight path of a drone he's controlling during his Unmanned Aircraft Systems class on October 17, 2022 in Augusta, Georgia.

The program at Cross Creek High is a Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education pathway. Glenn Hills High School also has an aviation course and there are other CTAE programs and pathways throughout Richmond County schools.

Cross Creek's program started January 2021 with 51 students, and has grown to 115. The success and interest are why Merion is continuing to look for financial assistance in order to purchase more drones to equip more students.

Fortune Business Insights, a market researcher, estimated in May that the drone industry could grow to $50 billion by 2029, and Merion explained that this industry has multiple applications for the young and growing workforce, not just in military.

Cross Creek High School junior Leandre Abraham lands a drone on his hand during his Unmanned Aircraft Systems class on October 17, 2022 in Augusta, Georgia.
Cross Creek High School junior Leandre Abraham lands a drone on his hand during his Unmanned Aircraft Systems class on October 17, 2022 in Augusta, Georgia.

"In news, for instance, the way y'all get that area footage of a car wreck or anything that's unique that you need to get high up, we can use our drones; or if you wanna look at these lights inside the football stadium, maybe one's out and we need to get a bird's eye view, we can use our drones," he said.

Sophomore Samson Quinn said, "I think it's fun. I think it's a good time, but it's also very useful. A lot of contractors, social media, they're gonna need those, so I want to get into the field."

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Cross Creek High School teaches aviation, unmanned aircraft systems