By Hannah Metzger, Reporter
Some students have noticed a small, flying robot hovering above the crowd during Rangeview home football games throughout the year. However, few know exactly what it is or what it is for. Well, say hello to the Phantom 2 Vision Quadcopter — Rangeview’s very own drone.
According to Assistant Principal Bryan Gasior, the Quadcopter cost $500.00 and costs no money to maintain. That is unless blades are broken, additional batteries are needed, or other unforeseen issues arise.
“The drone was purchased near the start of the 2015-2016 school year with the purpose being to support our athletics, STEM, and other programs who may see a need to utilize it’s capabilities,” explained Gasior. “The Phantom 2 Vision Quadcopter is capable of GPS locking, flight of up to 400 feet, both video and still photo capture, and has a range up to a half mile from where it took off.”
Although the drone was intended to be used for every branch of the school, so far it appears that it’s only been implemented during football games and practices.
Rangeview’s student leadership has apparently not yet used the drone. Darlenne Guerra, junior class leadership historian and next year’s Student Body President, claims that she has had no access to the Quadcopter and explained that she did not even know that leadership was allowed to use it.
“As historian I’m supposed to capture the memories [of the junior class] through photographs… I have never had access to the drone to collect pictures,” said Guerra. “I don’t know where the drone is and I don’t personally know who owns the drone… I was not aware that the drone was for public use, I thought that only the main office could use it.”
Yearbook adviser Mrs.Strouse claims that the school yearbook has yet to use the Quadcopter also.
“We haven’t asked to use it,” explained Strouse. “[Yearbook did not use the drone] this year but we should have!”
However, as the school year comes to an end it appears that there will be an increase in opportunities for other sports and non-athletic groups to get use out of the drone.
“Since its purchase in the fall, it has made appearances at several home football games, practices, and surveying our campus,” stated Gasior. “As the weather improves, I plan to offer ‘flight training’ opportunities to coaches of our sports teams, club liaisons/sponsors, and leadership sponsors and students, so we can increase and develop the potential of the drone. Capturing events, practices, and all things RHS with a view from above.”
Although the drone seems to have been purchased in fun, with the intention to help monitor the school and bring excitement to Rangeview events, some students are not happy about the new toy.
“I think that this purchase really shows that administration cares more about how Rangeview looks on the outside and less about what is going on inside,” claimed junior Rachel Vincent. “It’s interesting that money is being spent on more materialistic items like drones and creating a ‘brand’ for the school instead of buying classroom supplies or putting the money into the betterment of our programs… Administration should be focusing on how to benefit the students’ educations instead of the outside image of the school.”
Though some find this purchase to be somewhat of a waste there are also students who support the purchase of a drone and believe that this addition to RHS could help to improve Rangeview’s events.
“[The Quadcopter] improves events because it gives fans another view of what’s happening,” explained junior Alex Segura who is a varsity football player. “You are limited to what you see at the game because you are only given the sideline view, so this way you are given the whole 53 yards.”
In the near future the Quadcopter will be implemented more frequently and for different purposes so that this new tool can benefit the Rangeview community as a whole and influence all branches of the school in the same way that it has improved the football games.
