LONGMONT, Colo. — St. Vrain Valley's Longmont Innovation Center is buzzing this week, between a dozen district high schoolers and more than 300 drones.
"I was like, this is cool," Longmont High School sophomore Reese Wieder said. "I really want to be a part of this."
Ahead of the Fourth of July holiday, high schoolers are putting their heads together to create a dazzling drone show for the city of Longmont.
"They create images in the sky," Longmont High senior Abi Reichert said. "More often it's used as a more environmentally-friendly version of fireworks."
Wieder and Reichert are project managers to their team. They help coordinate external communications and show concepts.
"There's so many applications for this and it’s fascinating how many opportunities there are," Wieder said.
The two were both introduced to the drone team by their teacher, Danny Hernandez, at Longmont High. Reichert said she was originally on the robotics team with Hernandez and Wieder had a class with him. He leads the team.
"He invited us and said, 'for this opportunity, I need people who I know can do something we haven’t done before,'" Reichert recalled. "And so we came here to the Innovation Center and started the work."
Work includes planning the show from start to finish, from design to flight.
"I think it’s really amazing how many students we can get involved in this opportunity," Wieder said.
"It’s something in high school that not a lot of people can have access to," Reichert added. "An environment like this."
Drone shows are increasing in popularity as cities continue to recognize how quickly a fire can spark, even by accident.
"I’m surprised drones haven’t become bigger, quicker, because there are so many environmental benefits like they aren’t so loud for pets and people that might be noise sensitive and don’t cause fires," Wieder said.
"Anything that we can do to prevent that kind of stressor is crucial," Reichert said. "So things like drone shows are really good outlets of opportunity for that."
"Overall, I think they're beneficial in any state, but Colorado in particular," Wieder said.
The city of Longmont is hosting its drone light show at 9:15 p.m. on Thursday, July 4.
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