The Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (NJROTC) class at Coronado High School is learning to fly drones this year.
All the students enrolled in NJROTC, also known as “Islander Company,” collaboratively plan a weekly schedule that lays out expectations and job responsibilities ensuring a successful balance between practicing for various competitions and arranging study halls related to NJROTC or other courses.
There currently are about 10 cadets on the drone team for an upcoming competition on Feb. 25.
“The company is divided up into platoons, which are the cadets that are in each particular class period. So each class period will have one or two platoons,” said NJROTC Senior Naval Science Instructor William Nesbitt.
Nesbitt is a retired U.S. Navy Commander with a Bachelor of Science degree from the Naval Academy and a Master of Science in Operations Research from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey. Nesbitt joined Coronado High School in the 2022-23 academic school year.
Apart from drill, or marching, cadets have physical training that incorporates calisthenics and various sports and games to enhance their physical fitness.
Nesbitt added that NJROTC merges academic aspects with several of these disciplines which inculcate important values.
“It’s a program that is designed to develop cadets from an educational standpoint, physical fitness, character development, personal responsibility, leadership, teamwork, community service,” he said.
The program also has strong support from sailors and Marines.
In September, sailors and Marines from the Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group visited the school’s program to provide an opportunity for them to discuss their diverse backstories, jobs, and experiences in the military, followed by a joint group physical training session.
Navy Junior ROTC growing
And across the country, high schools are integrating the Navy Junior ROTC program.
According to the Naval Education and Training Command website, there were 583 NJROTC Units in January 2017, and Nesbitt said that there are now about 600 participating high schools.
Over the course of the entire school year, a total of six NJROTC classes, with approximately 15 students each, are taught by Nesbitt and Naval Science Instructor Thomas Hellwig.
“We are teaching partners, and we are working together constantly to pursue the objectives of the program and to teach the students. It’s a 100% full collaboration,” Nesbitt said.
A school day for Islander Company begins with the platoon commander, a senior student, forming the students outside the classroom for muster, instruction and inspection.
During this time, the platoon commander will share the schedule and updates. On uniform days, they will check that cadet uniforms meet appropriate standards. After muster instruction and inspection, cadets enter the classroom, where Nesbitt and Hellwig go over what will be covered that day.
Passing (FAA) regulations
Nesbitt said Islander Company’s current progress on flying drones is in the initial stages.
“That is a new unit that we added this year, and we first started flying drones in December,” Nesbitt said.
He explained that each NJROTC unit may plan their curriculum based on information, materials, and resources that the Navy provides, while also leveraging the individual instructors’ areas of expertise as well as the needs of the particular student body.
“Given the importance of aviation historically and currently in the Coronado community,” he said “It was important to introduce that aspect of flight to students. … The introduction of drones was part of a larger discussion of unmanned autonomous and remotely piloted systems. … Those systems are becoming increasingly important in the military and outside of the military as things move towards higher levels of autonomy.”
Adrian Nasori, 17, joined Islander Company at the start of his freshman year.
“I joined NJROTC because I saw the activities and thought it would be fun to be a part of the program,” he said.
Now a junior, Nasori considers that the most important piece of knowledge he has gained during his time in NJROTC is that one’s efforts allow for eventual success.
Having the opportunity of flying drones, he considers running through obstacle courses a “very fun” experience.
First step: Safety test
To begin flying drones, Nesbitt helps cadets get qualified with the recreational user safety test.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration website, The Recreational UAS Safety Test (TRUST) is an online test required for all recreational drone users that ensures safety and regulatory information knowledge.
To obtain a TRUST certification, one must answer all questions correctly in order.
“We get our cadets qualified. … Once they’ve taken that test, we are also introducing other fundamentals of a flight,” he said. “We also walk through safety considerations as part of that as well. The cadets go through a pre-flight safety checklist … each time they fly the drones, which we only fly indoors.”
Nesbitt believes that naval science has a direct connection to work in other classes, particularly STEM or Science, Technology, Engineering and Math classes.
He explained that concepts like “lift” relate to robotics, computer programming, and physics. He added that when cadets learn about the various environmental factors that impact flight wind patterns, it references earth sciences.
“This can give sort of a hands-on tangible manifestation of the things that they’re learning across their educational experience,” he said.
Many of the students had limited hands-on experience flying the quadcopters, Nesbitt said.
“A lot of kids started off nervous,” he said. “In some cases, kind of hesitant to actually grab the remote control and fly them around.”
Nasori, the high school junior, said that his experience in the NJROTC class has been a great one because every week there is something new.
“It’s also a good place to make friends as there are many teams you can join in the program,” he said.
Nasori also is a team commander.
“As the team commander, I am responsible for setting up team practices and meetings as well as making sure the drones are being operated in a safe manner,” he said. “I think it’s important for the school to provide these opportunities because it encourages extracurricular activities for the students to be involved with. It also helps them find possible interests that could be developed in the future.”
Demystifying the aircraft
After demystifying the aircraft work and teaching cadets how to properly operate the drones, cadets became much more comfortable, said Nesbitt.
“More and more of them are expressing interest in joining the drone team and competing as well,” he said. “In the near term, we’re looking to see how our competitions turn out here as our drone team continues practicing and goes on to take on other JROTC strong drone teams in competition.”
Nesbitt also shared that he is looking forward to working with future cadets in upcoming academic school years.
Cadet knowledge beyond the classroom
Nesbitt said flying drones provides cadets an experience that helps them gain transferable skills, but it only is the beginning for some cadets.
He said the next step would allow cadets to become certified as commercial drone pilots.
Coronado USD Public Information Officer Maria Simon said that this is one of the school’s “premiere programs,” which more students have had the opportunity to participate in through the implementation of a block schedule at Coronado High School.
Coronado USD President Renee Cavanaugh said that opportunities like flying drones are amazing skill sets that will continue to help Coronado students.
“It’s great because it’s a real-world experience that I think will help them if they continue on in the military as a career. Or, they can take that experience in private industry somewhere,” she said. “It’s just one more opportunity to expose our students to something that is happening and give them that opportunity to have that experience first-hand.”
Defense Visual Information Distribution Service contributed to this story.
