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Burlington students win drone competitions as district secures state AI and cybersecurity grants
Summary
Students in Burlington Public Schools described winning regional and national drone competitions and showed AI-driven drone demos. District staff said the school will use new state grants to expand summer AI and cybersecurity programs and pay student stipends.
At the Burlington Public Schools School Committee meeting, students and teachers showcased drone and esports projects and district staff announced state funding to expand internships and summer programs in data science, AI and cybersecurity.
The presentations highlighted competitive wins — including a first-place prize at an MIT event and a third-place finish at a STEM education competition — plus student-built autonomous-drone demonstrations that use image-recognition software.
Leroy Wong, who identified himself as a teacher in the district—s tech-exploration program, described the program—s recent competition record and student work. "We actually won first place and $500 at that event at MIT," Wong said. He said students built mechanisms to pick up and place objects in timed tasks and adapted small consumer drones for indoor, manual flights used in competition.
Student interns described hands-on engineering and programming work. One student said the team used Google—s MediaPipe pose-recognition model to speed development of autonomous tracking and hand-gesture controls rather than training a custom model during the two-month internship.
Shireen Tyrell, a district staff member, told the committee the district has secured funding from state partners to expand those opportunities. "We're going to be getting a grant from the AI hub to do a summer program," she said, adding the program will include stipends for students and slots reserved for Burlington students.
The district said the grant support comes through an innovation-pathway partnership with the Massachusetts AI Hub and the MassTech Collaborative. Staff described three summer programs already planned for the coming year: an AI and data-science academy, a cybersecurity pilot supported by MassTech funds, and placements with a Northeastern lab for a small number of students.
Committee members and staff framed those programs as workforce-development and career-exposure opportunities. The superintendent, Dr. Conti, and staff repeatedly described the internships and summer programs as pathways to STEM careers and college opportunities; the district also said several students have already earned industry-aligned certifications such as Excel and participated in college-level internships.
No formal committee action was taken on the presentations; staff said they would proceed with grant implementation and return to the committee with program details and registration materials. The committee asked staff to circulate flyers and application details to families via ParentSquare and other district communications.
The presentation also included a short update on esports: Dennis Villano, who supports the district—s esports program, said Burlington teams have qualified repeatedly for state-level events and that some students have used esports play to access college scholarships.
District staff and coaches asked the committee for continued operational support (equipment, field-trip approvals and travel funds) as they scale participation to the national level.
