The Robotics Team from Quinebaug Valley Community College, winner of the last three NASA Connecticut Space Grant Consortium Community College Quadcopter Challenges, presented at the Student Poster Session of the NASA National Council of Space Grant Directors in Arlington, VA on March 1, 2019.
QVCC Quadcopter Challenge team members include James Laudon ’18, Jacob Parent, Zeke Parent, Emily Rosaci and Andrew Tingley. QVCC was the only community college among eight groups selected from two-year and four-year institutions across the nation. The team made the trip to the Washington, D.C. area with Team Advisor and Space Grant Campus Director, Jakob Spjut to present their work.
Team members and brothers Jacob and Zeke Parent, Woodstock, CT shared that they were fortunate to have met students from all over the country. “To name a few, there were groups from Montana, Oregon, Iowa, and even Alaska,” said Jacob Parent. Zeke Parent shared that the team met representatives from NASA, who are also interested in visiting QVCC to tour the Advanced Manufacturing Center where the quadcopter was created. “We proved to everyone that community colleges have huge potential and can compete at the level of big four-year schools,” said Parent. As members of the Robotics Club at QVCC, Jacob and Zeke agree that the hands-on experience with coding and CAD software has prepared them for real life applications, such as the Student Quadcopter Challenge.
Two QVCC student teams will compete in the 2019 Community College Quadcopter Challenge, hosted by the NASA Connecticut Space Grant Consortium at QVCC in late April.