Drone soccer program aims to steer Nunavik youth toward aviation careers

Young Nunavimmiut could soon learn to pilot drones through a newly funded initiative.

The Arctic Drone Soccer program proposal received $100,000 from this year’s Arctic Inspiration Prize. The ceremony was held May 5 in Whitehorse.

“The drone soccer program will streamline opportunities towards STEM and aviation careers,” said Felix Aupalu, founder and program director of Nunavik-based All Arctic, the non-profit that will run the initiative, in an interview.

Drone soccer is a team sport where players manoeuvre drones through a hanging goal in an enclosed arena while avoiding other drones. Players learn to build, fix and control their drones while learning about technology and coding.

The project was pitched as an addition to Qaulirmat, All Arctic’s youth leadership program in Nunavik.

Through Qaulirmat, students aged 13 to 18 participate in civic and land-based activities, as well as sports and workshops with guest speakers. Currently offered in Puvirnituq, Salluit and Quaqtaq, it runs year-round.

“Some of the guest speakers are Air Inuit pilots. Our strategy is to involve the pilots to incentivize the kids to pursue an aviation career because we’re only going to need more of that in the future,” Aupalu said.

The drone soccer initiative is a continuation of that goal, he said.

Maggie MacDonnell, a teacher in Salluit and adviser at All Arctic, received the 2017 Global Teacher Prize, a US$1-million award given to an exceptional educator for outstanding contributions to the profession.

Factoring in layovers, MacDonnell said it took more than 40 flights to transport a group of seven people from their hometowns in Nunavik to Whitehorse and back for the Arctic Inspiration Prize ceremony.

“The Arctic is such an aviation region,” she said, to explain why the goal to see more young Nunavimmiut pursue aviation exists. “You might be 13 and you’re flying a drone. When you’re 23, you might be flying a plane.”

The Arctic Inspiration Prize has not yet disbursed funding.

Both Aupalu and MacDonnell said they are open to partnering with organizations and individuals interested in supporting the drone soccer program.

As of now, they have one drone soccer kit, which cost about $25,000 to purchase and ship. A typical kit includes equipment such as control systems, batteries, chargers and goal frames.

The project was nominated by Makivvik Corp. president Pita Aatami, according to a news release from the Arctic Inspiration Prize, which also awarded projects from the Northwest Territories and two from the Yukon. In total, nearly $1.4 million was awarded across the North.