Bellbrook High Drones Team Wins Fourth National Title
The Bellbrook High School Drones team, Full Throttle, recently claimed its fourth consecutive national title at a drone design and racing competition in Houston, Texas. Competing in the Drones in School national program, the team came in first place overall, continuing Bellbrook’s impressive dominance in the event.
Now in its fifth year, Bellbrook’s drone program has consistently grown in skill and recognition. The Full Throttle team, made up of Darius Gainer, Ben Downing, Connor Payne, Connor Spriggs, Hayden Fisher, Andrew Bruckart, Zac Hansen, and Olin Eppers, earned top marks across multiple areas of the competition.
Gainer, who served as both pilot and manager, is the only student in the program’s history to have competed at Nationals for three years.
The Drones in School competition challenges students not only to race drones but to engage in a multi-disciplinary process fully.
Teams are required to design and build two drones, develop a portfolio and marketing video, and present a display board explaining their design process. The competition culminates in two high-intensity races: a head-to-head obstacle course and a strategic “capture the flag” match.
“In Texas, the big thing that happens is the racing,” said Dave Lambright, Bellbrook’s teacher and club advisor. “People are most familiar with the head-to-head, where they put on the goggles and fly through an obstacle course. The first team to complete three laps moves on in the bracket.”
In the capture the flag event, two teams of two drones each compete to fly over red or blue beacons. The goal is to switch the beacons to your team’s color before the opposing team does.
“You have to design a drone that is good at both competitions,” Lambright noted. “That’s one of the rules.”
Bellbrook’s strength in the competition wasn’t limited to its top team. Two other teams from the school, Drone-A-Soars and The Flying Saucers, also placed highly, taking third and fourth place overall.
Drone-A-Soars included sophomores Rithik Mall, Ben Burris, Ahmed El Sharif, Josh Johnson, Jackson Bruckart, Dalton McPeck, and Logan Fisher. The Flying Saucers, composed of juniors Katie Pryor, Erin Secody, Andrew West, Maggie Sahlbom, Caden Fromm, and Natasha Leghart, also made an impressive showing.
“The Flying Saucers and Drone-A-Soars will have some big shoes to fill next year,” Lambright said. “But I am sure they will be to the task.”
Although still growing in Ohio, the Drones in School program has quickly gained popularity in other states, particularly in Florida, where companies such as Florida Power and Light utilize drones for surveying hurricane damage.
“Flying drones is something students are interested in, and it’s extremely educational,” Lambright said. “There are a lot of education programs that look good on the surface, but this one delivers. The amount of work and emphasis on process make it more than worthwhile.”
