2026-04-21T04:00:00Z
There is something special happening in our CTE Cybersecurity/IT classroom as students work to get the CodeAIR drone off the ground. For some students, the challenge is exciting and they quickly move ahead, eager to test, revise, and push their code further. For others, the process can be frustrating at times, but what inspires me most is that they keep going. They persist through mistakes, troubleshoot their code, and refuse to give up.
The most powerful moment comes when the code finally works and the drone lifts off. It is an exciting and inspiring moment for the entire class. Once one student succeeds, it seems to light a fire in everyone else, and suddenly more students are motivated to problem-solve, revise, and try again. That energy is contagious, and it reminds me why hands-on STEM learning matters so much.
Our work with CodeAIR connects perfectly to the spirit of the Firia Labs Code Collective, a community where educators and makers connect, share, and explore innovative ways to teach and learn Python coding and STEM skills through hands-on projects and physical computing devices. In our classroom, students are not just learning code, they are building confidence, resilience, and the courage to try again. I only wish I remembered to take more pictures, but like my students, I get caught up in the action too.