As he shook hands with Principal Trevor Bonat, freshman Tim Chiapel handed over the latest addition to the school’s fleet of drones, the Phantom 2. The drone came as a donation on Sept. 27 from the Chiapel family and is the second drone now at the the school’s disposal.

“We have a lot of students with talent and vision,” Bonat said, “the goal is to get the right tools so that they can make their vision a reality.”

A number of students and teachers have shown interest in using the drone, however, training is required first.  The Phantom 2 will be used to provide the base level training that can develop their creative abilities from the bird’s eye view.

“From an educational standpoint, you get to see the world in a different way,” Bonat said. “[Using the drone] requires a lot of skill and a lot of vision, but it can produce some pretty cool stuff.”

After training with the Phantom 2, students will be allowed to operate the school’s Phantom 4 drone.  Both aircrafts will be used in numerous situations. For example, they could be used by the football program to see plays from different angles or focus on a specific player, Admissions to promote the school or cross country to follow races. The drones’ photo and video applications open up a window of new possibilities.

“I’m very happy to be able to contribute to the De Smet community by donating the drone,” Chiapel said. “I hope it is useful to everyone and that they are able to put it to good use.”