Thursday afternoon at Brownwood High School, a presentation was made regarding the Bruner Auto Group’s donation of a Ram 3500 pick-up truck to haul Ranger College’s mobile Electronics, Robotics and Drone Technology trailer.

“What we have today is the drone trailer that we’re showcasing pulled by a Bruner pick-up that was donated by Greg Bruner and the Bruner family,” Dr. Matt Underwood, Ranger College Vice President of Erath & Brown County, said during the presentation. “We’re very grateful for that, but more than anything else we’re thankful for the participation at Brownwood High School. We never thought when we started this program that we would have gotten so many kids enrolled in the program. We’ve had robotics in the area for a while and we’ve had robotics competitions but how the drone and the robotics curriculum married together really made the program feasible. It was a great thing for Brownwood ISD and a great thing for Ranger College, working together to achieve these goals for the kids.”

Underwood further added, “It’s got a lot of technology and a lot of different levels of drones and I think it’s going to be a plus. It’s a trailer and it’s mobile so we can take it to the Zephyrs of the world and the Richland Springs of the world and we can get out there to rural kids that may not have ever had the opportunity to experience this. It also piques interest for career expectations even if they don’t have this at a small school, they may want to pursue something like this later in life.”

Greg Bruner, President of the Bruner Auto Group, was also on hand at the event.

“I couldn’t be prouder to be part of this,” Bruner said. “It’s phenomenal to see all the students out here because this is why we’re doing it, to give back to the community and get you guys the training because you are our future. There’s other technology at Ranger we’re working on that this truck can be used for as well. This is right down our alley and I’m tickled pink to be part of the project.”

The trailer will be based out of the Brownwood ISD and used at schools throughout the area. In 2020, Brownwood High introduced a new career and technology course that allowed students to pursue a commercial drone pilot license. Dual credit courses, such as Drone Construction and Programming, allow high school students the opportunity to earn college credit in order to expand their resumes. BHS and Ranger College work in tandem in this dual-credit Career and Technology Education course. Students study the rules and regulations for commercial drone operation, and at the end of the course, earn their FAA Unmanned Aircraft Pilot License.

Edward Yantis, Brownwood High Computer Science and Robotics teacher, said, “Thanks to Brownwood ISD, our Education Foundation and the BMDD was involved in this as well and partnered with Ranger and made this possible. Through this what we’re able to do is take high school students and get them FAA licensed as a commercial drone operator where they can go out and actually use this equipment and make a living right out of high school. Then, what we’ve also been able to do thanks to the Education Foundation, is buy some software and equipment so we can teach students how to do actual industry level 3-D surveys and mapping of areas, land, buildings and all that stuff. It’s a really high-need, high-paying area, and we’re happy to be able to provide that for our students. It couldn’t have been possible without the partnership of all the people involved.”

Dixon Bailey, Executive Vice President at Ranger College, added, “Drones, robotics and automation are huge pieces of this. Some of the same technology from drones crosses over to automation and robotics, which we hope to be bringing online some time in the near future right here in Brownwood. We want to be ready when the technology comes.”

Dr. Joe Young, Brownwood ISD Superintendent, also expressed thanks to those who made this become a reality.

“We would like to thank Ranger College and their partnership and Bruner is always a great partner,” Young said. “We call ourselves the district of choice and this is another choice that three years ago we didn’t have, two years ago we barely had, and now we have full-fledged program that all these students chose to be a part of. That’s very important to us and to our district.”