Melvin Meade eagerly awaited this opportunity for years.

Harris County Department of Education’s Center for Afterschool, Summer and Enrichment (CASE) for Kids first offered drone training at the end of 2019 after the division introduced curriculum for drones to out-of-school time programs and organizations as part of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programming.

That was more than five years ago.

The CASE regional program and site coordinator wasn’t alone in waiting for this chance to bring the popular unmanned aerial vehicles to students and afterschool programs.

“I’ve been waiting for this workshop – honestly – for about eight months now,” said Alcides Wolhers, a site coordinator for George Sanchez North Charter School. “Since the SMART Zone opened, I’ve been asking for it.

“We always joked about it and said, ‘When is it coming?’ And finally, when they gave the date, I was excited because it’s something that I wanted to do for my kids.”

The students Wolhers works with don’t typically get the opportunity to fly drones. He explained that the drone training would allow his students to experience life in a different light.

Meade and Wohlers joined 10 other HCDE team members and community partners in the training on April 22. Tyler Downey, STEM education specialist and training coordinator for PCS Edventures, led two four-hour sessions, introducing the curriculum, showcasing the supply kits and highlighting video components before breaking out the DJI Tello programmable drones for flying lessons and coding exercises inside the CASE for Kids conference room.

Once completed, each participant received a training certificate, opening up the opportunity to borrow the drones from SMART Zone, which stands for Sharing Multiple Afterschool Resources and Technology.

Relaunched in August 2024, the SMART Zone lending library is stocked with technology, cooking materials, sports equipment, musical instruments, educational games and more. It’s funded by a Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC) grant and allows afterschool programs in Harris County and 13 surrounding counties to check out equipment to use at their campuses to serve students ages 4-12, and up to 19 with a documented disability.

Coordinators may utilize the equipment for 30 days before exchanging or requesting an extension.

CASE for Kids held the initial drone training in December 2019. Thirty participants attended over two days and plans for future training sessions were put in place.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic halted operations. Other factors that delayed future training included scheduling, changes in staffing and lining up a trainer’s availability with interested participants.

However, interest in the drones never waned.

“When people were in the SMART Zone trying to check out things, they would see the drones and would ask if they could check them out,” Program Coordinator Kiera Hurst said. “Unfortunately, I would always have to say, ‘No, you need a proper training and we’re getting a training.’”

CASE for Kids owns more than 45 drones, iPads to fly them, extra batteries and port chargers, cases and numerous replacement propellers and guards.

Hurst reached out to PCS Edventures in December, eventually landing on the April date for Downey’s return for two initial training sessions.

“I love the fact that they called and we’re here able to support,” he said. “This is one of my favorite curriculums I’ve ever worked on with kids. They love drones. They love programming hardware as opposed to just making video games.

“Coding for the real world is super fun and everybody seemed pretty excited by it.”

Training participants ranged from CASE for Kids coordinators, HCDE employees from other divisions and out-of-school time partners looking to bring the drones to their programs.

Jorge Garza, a special projects workflow specialist, attended the morning session at the request of Dr. Jesus Amezcua, HCDE’s assistant superintendent of Business Services, for future division projects.

“I’m sure he has something up his sleeve,” Garza said, adding he did have personal experience with drones before but not any in-depth training. “I was impressed. I know it’s geared toward teaching this to younger generations, but I learned a lot.”

As attendees introduced themselves and stated expectations and expected challenges, Lisa To’s statements spoke for many in the room. The youth program director at Houston’s Chinese Community Center had zero previous experience and was not only hesitant with trying to learn it herself but then having the know-how and confidence to teach her students.

It wasn’t a surprise To asked the most questions.

Downey went over the curriculum, highlighting lessons, which included what a drone is and its components, its real-world applications, and safety checks and practices to guard against injury and property damage. Videos are incorporated into the lessons, while interactive science notebooks are included to allow students to work like real scientists.

Organization (identifying each drone for connectivity purposes), safety precautions, flight commands and controls, and reminders for maintaining charged batteries were also stressed before attendees finally got their hands on the drones.

Flying started with simple takeoffs and landings, with each trying to land his or her drone on a constructed Lego platform. From there, drones were maneuvering around the conference space. The class also covered Droneblocks STEM curriculum, which allows students to use coding and JavaScript for autonomous drone flight missions.

Downey helped with troubleshooting, be it faulty network connectivity between iPad and drone or an overheated unit. These situations were just as effective, To said, as it would be up to each individual teacher to work through problems with their students in real time.

“Because I’ve never done this before, this was really scary,” she said. “But once I started flying and at the end, I felt like this wasn’t so bad. I didn’t get anybody’s hair tangled and I didn’t crash.

“I feel a lot better about it and I can envision my kids having that same enjoyment with this. I don’t know if this was something I would have had an opportunity to do if it wasn’t for CASE. So being able to do it for free is an invaluable resource for nonprofit organizations like us.”

Participants walked away more confidently than in the hours before, ready to bring these drones to their students and organizations. Hurst is also already in the planning stages of holding regular training sessions in the future.

“I hope I inspired them enough to make them come, get these drones and use them, because it’s great stuff,” Downey said. “Teaching the teachers is my thing – that’s why I love my job. This is the kind of stuff I wish I had when I was in the classroom.”

Added Wohlers, who has kept drones a secret from his students: “I didn’t want to tell them anything until I had it in my hands. But now that I know it’s available, it will be worth it.”