Harmony School of Excellence-Katy held its annual RADC Drone Competition on Saturday morning, December 2 at the school gym at the campus at 22855 Elyson Falls Drive, Katy.

An exciting challenge was presented in the form of a game, where students learn how drones work, how they’re built and programmed. This year the event hosted over 24 teams, including local ISDS and teams from out of state.

The drones were small, only slightly larger than an adult’s hand.

“The REC Foundation Aerial Drones Competition (RADC) offers an exciting educational drone sporting event focusing on hands-on, student-centered learning. RADC fosters students’ development through teamwork, critical thinking, project management, and communication skills required to prepare them to become the next generation of innovators and problem solvers,” according to the Robotics Education Competition Foundation.

The Robotics Education Competition Foundation also explains that RADC is an exciting challenge presented in the form of a game. Four Drones made up of two Alliances fly around the field to score as many points as possible. The object of the game is to attain a higher score than the opposing alliance.

Teams also competed in the Programming Skills Challenge where one drone takes to the sky to score as many points as possible. Additionally, teams were judged on an engineering notebook that shows their understanding of the engineering design process.

Participants were predominantly from Harmony schools in the Houston area, but teams also traveled to the competition from Cypress, Bryan and Austin. Multiple grade levels were represented at the event.

Harmony School of Excellence-Katy will hold another drone competition at its campus in February 2024, said a Harmony district spokesperson.