24 RSU Students To Earn Drone Pilot Micro-Credentials

Two dozen Rogers State University Students will be graduating in May with a micro-credential to be drone pilots. They're part of a unique program in the state of Oklahoma.

These students will be the first in the state to graduate with this micro-credential. Students such as Alyssa Allen and ben Allina have been hard at work building their drones over the course of the class. Allen said that the class has been quite the adventure.

"The idea of being the first graduates of this micro-credential, it's been super exciting to tell all of my friends and family about it and to have them come support me in it," Allen said.

However, this program is about more than just flying a drone. It teaches students to calibrate, troubleshoot, design and more.

"When somebody comes to RSU and earns the micro-credential as a drone pilot, they are a fully realized individual that can go out into the community and function as a drone pilot and everything that entails," Dr. Curt Sparling, RSU's department head for technology and justice studies, said.

An adjunct professor in this class, Chris Medrano, said that these students will be able to take the skills they learn in this program and apply it in just about any field they choose.

"What a lot of our drone pilots end up doing is they are doing someting other than their main profession as being a drone pilot. o for example, you might be an electrician who uses the drone as a tool to fly. You might be a police officer who uses a drone as a tool," Medrano said.

Allina, a freshman at RSU, said that he's learned not only how to build and operate drones in this class but also so much more.

"Probably the biggest thing would be the programming and putting everything together and working as a team and getting your thoughts out is where I used to struggle, but now I can actually talk with the team and converse with them to figure out what we should do better," Allina said.

The state of Oklahoma is also offering scholarships to students who are in the program, which takes six credit hours and about 16 weeks to complete.