Empire Drone Day

Empire Drone Day

Open to all ages! Youth under 18 must be accompanied by a parent/guardian.

Date: Thursday, July 23, 2026

Time: 6pm-7:30pm

Location: Rodman Lott & Sons Farm (2973 NY-414, Seneca Falls, NY 13148)

Cost: Free

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Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) is one of the four New York State 4-H Pillars. What better way to engage, cultivate curiosity, and learn to love STEM than to meet professionals in the field!

We are grateful to Mike Dressing, proprietor of Community Drone Collective, for his willingness to share his passion and expertise at our Empire Drone Day! Mike will provide a demonstration on drones and youth will have the opportunity to fly DJI drones if they are supervised by a parent/guardian and complete the required TRUST certificate, which is legally required to fly drones outdoors. Please visit https://trust.pilotinstitute.com to take the test and receive the certificate.

“Drones are certainly fun to fly, but they can offer so much help in working toward understanding community solutions in our environment, natural resources, agriculture, industry and more,” shared Rachel Williams, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Seneca County Executive Director. When exploring drones and the science surrounding these marvelous flying tools, youth learn about aerospace principles, coding, and remote sensing. In 2016 Cornell University Cooperative Extension staff were on the ground floor exploring unmanned flight with youth on a large scale as they created the National 4-H Science Day challenge, Drone Discovery. “This three-part engineering design challenge and many more resources and opportunities are available through 4-H”, states Karen Burcroff, CCE Seneca 4-H Educator. “We hope to ignite a spark of interest in youth around STEM through this opportunity.”

4-H is the youth development program of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Seneca County. Anyone interested in learning more about everything 4-H has to offer for youth ages 9-18 years (or the Cloverbud program 5-8 years) should contact Karen Burcroff at [email protected] or by calling the office at 315-539-9251.