I’m Paul Brown, a band director, general music teacher and FPV pilot based in Central New York. By day I teach band and general music in a rural school district; in my “off hours” I build, program, and fly micro-FPV drones and help run the STEM Skies Drone League, connecting schools, esports venues, and local partners around drones and racing.

I’ve spent years teaching kids and adults how to take technology apart, understand it, and put it back together so it actually works. On the drone side, that means everything from soldering tiny components and tuning Betaflight to running indoor race nights and troubleshooting crashes in the pits. On the school side, it means managing real classrooms, real kids, real deadlines, and keeping things safe and sane while they learn.

This course is built to be hands-on, honest, and practical: no toy drones, no “push one button and pretend you’re a pilot.” Students leave with a real 65 mm FPV mcro drone they built themselves, a working understanding of how it all fits together, and the skills to fly it safely—plus a clear on-ramp into league racing if they want to keep going. My goal is simple: build capable, safe pilots who can think for themselves, work as a team, and have a blast doing it.