:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/shawmedia/KRHKVLTVW5JZGLBUJWHDCAMP3Y.jpg)
After the receipt of a donation, Southwestern Community College (SWCC) has purchased its first drone to be used for marketing and educational purposes.
The drone, a DJI Phantom 3 Professional, features a camera to take aerial photos and video. Ed and Marge Naven of Creston provided SWCC with the funds for the drone.
“There are a lot of applications for aerial vehicles like this in marketing, agriculture and video production,” said Joel Wires, SWCC marketing coordinator and designer. “Ed thought it would be a great learning tool, and we had to agree with him. It will be a good opportunity to expose students to a new technology that’s simple to use.”
Every other year – or anytime SWCC adds a new building – the college has hired a pilot to allow Wires to take aerial photos of the campus. The drone will eliminate the need for a pilot.
“Traditionally, you have to go up in an airplane, and it’s a lot more cost and time intensive,” Wires said. “We’re looking at updating some of our aerial photos of our athletic facilities, so (the drone) will give us the opportunity to do that on our own.”
The drone will also be used as an educational tool for students, especially those in agriculture classes.
“You can program it using GPS to keep track of crops growing,” said Tom Lesan, SWCC vice president of economic development. “You can fly over the corn or bean fields to show students in the fall how they’re doing or check on cattle to see if they have calved.”
Lesan said there was a lot of discussion before deciding to buy the drone, and there are several regulations SWCC must follow.
“We had to call the airport to notify them, and we’re not allowed to fly it more than 400 feet above the ground because then you’re getting where planes fly,” Lesan said. “We also had to notify the hospital because of life flight.”
A common concern about drones is invasion of others’ privacy, but Lesan said SWCC’s rule is it will not be flown off-campus. It will only be used for marketing, education and possibly helping out other businesses. For instance, the drone can take aerial photos of Greater Regional Medical Center from 350 feet in the air without ever leaving SWCC’s property.
“We will be able to help the hospital or golf course with marketing, but we won’t do it for a fee,” Lesan said. “(The drone) will not be used for commercial purposes.”
In the past few weeks that SWCC has had the drone, it has been used to get aerial footage of events. Now that school has started, it will also be used by some instructors for classes.
“It seems like technology is taking over – it’s what people want to see and do,” Lesan said. “Joel has been posting a lot of the photos on our Facebook, and students and parents really like to see that.”