Ghana to participate in 2021 World Aerospace Competition for High Schoolers
The world through the United Nations on August 12th since 2000 celebrate world youth and create awareness on the role young people play in the development of Nations and the world at large tackling grave challenges confronting societies.
The theme for this year’s International Youth Day was Youth Engagement for Global Action and sought to highlight the ways in which the engagement of young people at the local, National and international levels is enriching national and multilateral institutions and processes. It also seeks to draw lessons on their representation and engagement in formal institutions to significantly enhance them.
During this year’s International Youth Day, Young Aviators Ghana through their CEO Seth Konadu Awuah and Media Partner Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC News) organized a live Panelist Youth Discussion via zoom in relation to the theme for the celebration in partnership with Goldstar Air, EdAcme, Western North Youth Foundation and Nana Akua Afriyie Busia Foundation.
Young Aviators Ghana is a group of young men and women including Certified and Aspiring Pilots, Aerospace Engineers, Flight Despatchers, Cabin Crew, and others with a vision to provide the platform for empowering, unearthing and unleashing aviation potentials for the next generation of Ghanaian aviation professionals.
Panelists included youth who have demonstrated a lot of achievements in Education, Governance and Leadership, Health, and Entreprenurship. Some panel members were Mac Sarbah — a Ghanaian US-based Entrepreneur and Harvard Innovative Thinker, Dr. David Tetteh — a Pharmacist and Founder of Western North Foundation, Eunice Eleanor — a Commonwealth Youth Council Africa and Europe Representative, Kenneth Gyamerah — Educationalist, Nana Akua Afriyie Busia — Ghanaian Youth Activist, and Ms. Anita Asamoah — Public Health Epidemiologist. The host and presenter was Theophilus Sampah of GBC.
In his submission, the CEO of Young Aviators Group emphasized the need for the right investments in the youth to yield demographic dividends. He often quoted Former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, saying that any country that fails to invest in the youth severs its lifeline. He also indicated that Young Aviators Ghana has been given the franchise to organize the Real World-Design Challenge Competition in Ghana, the first African country to participate in the competition with countries like USA, China, India, Canada, and the Philippines.
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The Real-World Design Challenge is an annual Competition for High School students between grades 9 to 12.
With the help of both local and international mentors, students solve real world engineering problems focused on bringing a real work environment into the classroom. The program is tailored to real industry standards. Students have real tools, play real roles, work on real problem and make real contributions.
The final 10 teams will represent Ghana at the International Competition. For the 2020/2021 challenge, students have been asked to design an Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), create a theory of operation and develop a business plan for commercial operations of the system to participate in both National and International Competitions.
Classes for the boot camp is scheduled for the month of October to November 2020 for 8 weeks online via zoom. Teams of 3-7 from selected Senior High Schools will learn how to design a plane using the latest Professional Engineering Software. They will apply Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics skills learned in school while employing the Engineering process.
Teams develop technical writing skills by documenting their wok in an 80-page Engineering Design Notebook which is evaluated by professional engineers. With training and support from mentors, students learn the technical elements of plane design such as team composition, division of labor and engagement, system design, mission planning and capabilities, concepts, preliminary and detailed design. They also learn aerodynamic characterization, selection of system components, aircraft geometric design and details, systems of operational considerations, components of complete flight such as vehicle weight and balance, maneuver analysis and the development and testing of CAD models.
They also learn to make a business case for their system such as amortizing system costs, market assessment, cost benefit analysis and justification and identification of alternative commercial applications. They learn to do presentations that are scored on organization, presentation skills, design process, technical understanding, effective use of mentors, design viability and business case development.
Winners of the National Competition will receive cash and educational prizes including a trip to the United States and a $50,000 USD Scholarship for each member of the International winning team.
The launching of the competition is scheduled to take place on September 30, 2020 at Airport City in Accra, Ghana and expected to bring various stakeholders in the Aviation Sector including Government, Airlines, Air travel Operators, Academia, and students. The launch will also be a platform to raise corporate sponsorships to support the entire National Competition to the International level.
Registration of teams began August 1, 2020 and is expected to end September 30, 2020. Interested students and schools that want to participate should contact the CEO, Young Aviators Group on +233(0)542836136 on call via WhatsApp. They can also email youngaviatorsgh@gmail.com or log onto www.realworldesignchallenge.org or follow Young Aviators Ghana on facebook and Instagram for updates.
Source: Young Aviators Group
Oral Ofori is Founder and Publisher at www.TheAfricanDream.net, a digital storyteller and producer, and also an information and research consultant.
