Aerial Drone Competition

My name is Mary Iliev and I am a Drone Coach and a 5th Grade Science Teacher at Coral Academy in Henderson, NV. On Saturday, March 8th, 2025, our school is hosting a Drone Tournament. Tournaments such as these rely on a lot of outside volunteers from the community to ensure an honest tournament. This is through a program called REC (Robotics Education and Competition), where students apply their classroom learning to a fun after school program that encompasses STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Art and Math). I have recently had a few of my volunteers inform me that they are no longer able to volunteer due to work related obligations that have come up. I read that your company likes to go out into the community and volunteer, so I thought that you might be able to help. If you are able to assist us with 1 to 8 volunteers on Saturday, March 8th, 2025, from 7am to 5pm we would greatly appreciate it! I would need to know as soon as possible if this is possible or not. Our volunteers will receive all of their meals for the day taken care of, as well as an amazing opportunity to help the local youth in the community.  Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions or concerns you may have regarding this. Thank you so much for your consideration!!!

This is a school program in which students from elementary school through high school participate in a tournament to apply their drone knowledge to a challenge established by the REC Aerial Drone Program at the start of the school year. Students learn how to pilot a drone, air traffic control, program/code a drone, log their experiences with scientific methods, engineering skills by replacing parts on the drone as needed, teamwork and communication skills in working with others to achieve a common goal, leadership skills as each team has a captain to ensure each roll is being filled, and scouting skills as they set out to find their team alliances and discuss a plan of action for the field. We are expecting to have a total of 28 teams participating in this tournament and 3 teams volunteering but not participating (so they can also help with any questions or assistance needed).

Here is a link to the program that we are doing this through: https://recf.org/teams/competition/aerial-drone-competition/ , I think that this will provide a lot more information than I could get into this email, but PLEASE don't hesitate to reach out to me with any questions. We really appreciate your consideration for this!

I have judge positions available (this would be all day during the event, they would interview the various teams and deliberate with other judges to determine certain awards) and Referee positions available (this would preferably be all throughout the event, making sure that certain criteria are met for scoring, there will be someone to train the volunteers before the event begins).

The teams all bring their REC approved drones (this is an indoor event) and use those drones throughout the tournament. Anyone that is able to volunteer would not need to have a drone, just an eagerness to listen and watch as youth in the community learn about drones. Each volunteer would receive a brief training prior to the event and will have someone that they can refer to throughout the event for any questions and/or concerns.

I would really like to have all volunteers confirmed no later than Wednesday, February 26th, 2025. I would need the names (first and last only) and their contact information (email address and phone number). Once someone has confirmed that they are volunteering, I add them to the tournament update emails to keep them in the loop. You are also welcome to share my information with them.

We would need the volunteers to be there on Saturday, March 8th, 2025, from 7am-5pm ideally. I have been authorized to break the referee rolls into shifts of 7am-11am and 10am-4pm if absolutely necessary, but this isn't an ideal situation. We would really like to have the same referees throughout the tournament (and the judges absolutely need to be the same throughout the tournament). We will be providing our full day volunteers with breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I am also able to sign volunteer hours for any work related benefits (as we know that some companies provide compensation to employees for volunteer work, but they would need to check with their employer for information on that). We can accept volunteers 16 years of age and up, so if any high school students need a signature on volunteer hours, this works for that as well. The address of the tournament is in Henderson, NV (CASLV Sandy Ridge Campus, 1051 Sandy Ridge Ave, Henderson, NV, 89052). 

I hope that this provides the additional information that you were looking for, but please feel free to reach out with any additional questions.

THANK YOU AGAIN SO MUCH FOR CONSIDERING TO VOLUNTEER FOR US!!! WE LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING BACK FROM YOU SOON!!!

Coach/Mrs. Mary Iliev,

5th Grade Science Teacher  

Drone Coach     

CASLV Windmill

2150 Windmill Pkwy    Henderson, NV 89074

(702) 485-3410 (P)    (702) 722-2718 (F)

miliev@coralacademylv.org