Soaring above club expectations
While most club activities consist of poster-making, fundraising and other volunteer opportunities, Diamond Bar High School’s Dronescape club members take their skills to the sky.
Founded in March 2021 by seniors Alan Zhang, Catherine Juan as well as junior Natalie Nyaung and sophomore Nathan Nyaung, the group aims to expand its members’ interest in drones as well as find new uses for the device on campus, from creating promotional videos or capturing scenic shots for various organizations.
“Instead of joining other clubs that I’m probably not interested in, I’d rather start my own club because I enjoy doing it,” senior Zhang said. “I have been flying drones for almost 7 years already and I would like to do what I like during school hours.”
The club meets three times a week to learn how to build, fly and work drones, with members pulling knowledge from their past experiences in school events such as the virtual open houses, prom and graduation ceremonies.
“The entire point of the club was to make it so that students can use these skills to make money,” junior Joseph Wangsa said. “Right now we’re teaching people how to find [drone related] jobs, so that these skills they learn are applicable to their career.”
In addition to serving the Diamond Bar community, Dronescape has simultaneously been working on their own projects. Currently, they have been working on manufacturing environmentally friendly fireworks, as well as creating a drone capable of carrying a human in what has come to be known as the Leelyn project.
“During the first semester, we were trying to find a project we could set our eyes on throughout the year,” senior Leelyn Shih said. “We decided on making a drone that could be capable of carrying around the weight of an average human.”
However, since the drones range from $300-3,000 dollars, the club is experiencing problems with lack of funds. In an effort to resolve this problem, they are focusing on finding more sponsorships and pitching out their ideas to local businesses who support the use of drones. In addition, they seek out assistance from well-funded clubs such as Printed Works.
Despite this hurdle, Dronescape is continuing to strive to make the most out of the opportunities presented to them.
“By teaching the students the fundamentals of flight through drones, we hope this is where their dreams will take off,” Zhang said.
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