UTICA, NY (WUTR)— Children from around the country are attending Drone Camp this week in Utica and Rome.

“I have always been fascinated by drones and how they can maneuver with out a pilot,” said Luke Henderson, a drone camp student.

Mohawk Valley Community College has teamed up with The Griffis Institute, AX Enterprise, and the Air Force Research Lab to form a kid’s camp. It is an effort to promote and provide math and science education while having fun with technology. 

“This software system that we have here is the same system that the International Guard in Syracuse has to train their pilots. We have full scale battle field operations all the way down to basic flight maneuvers,” said MVCC Professor Bill Judycki.

This week, students are getting a lesson in how to operate unmanned aircrafts such as drones.

“We can simulate just about any aircraft out there,” said Judycki. “Our young students will be actually assembling this particular quad-copter from a box of parts. we will learn about all the different systems, how to set it up, and test fly it afterwards.” 

This is something that greatly sparks Luke Henderson’s interests.

“I want to be a weapons engineer when I get older and design new missiles, new tanks, new drones, and what not,” said Henderson.

Tomorrow Luke and the other students will be putting their skills to the test.

“They’ll spend the next two days flying two different aircrafts outside and also inside,” explained Judycki. ” And perfect their skills in a real environment.”