Students get up-close view of military technology

Hundreds of Houston County students learned about the latest military technology at the Museum of Aviation on Tuesday.

The students toured 17 demonstrations that were part of the 42nd Annual Dixie Crow Symposium on electronic warfare, which is expected to draw more than 2,000 attendees, including 550 Houston County students. The students ranged from elementary to high school, and they included home school students.

The conference began Tuesday and will run through Thursday.

The students were taking part in the Crow’s Nest part of the symposium, which started four years ago to spark interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM.

“The hope is to encourage students to go into those careers and hopefully come back to this area,” said Matt Bryant, president of the Dixie Crow chapter of the Association of Old Crows, an organization for those who work in electronic warfare.

Bryant is deputy chief engineer in the electronic warfare division of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Robins Air Force Base. The symposium is co-sponsored by the Dixie Crows and the electronic warfare division.

It includes many vendors who produce electronic warfare products, and numerous speakers on the subject, including some events that only those with classified security clearance can attend.

The students participating in the Crow’s Nest portion of the event toured the demonstrations in groups. They learned about sound wave technology from a Georgia Tech researcher, the spacesuits worn by pilots of the high-altitude U-2 spy plane, the technology used by emergency management personnel at Robins Air Force Base, and more.

Christa Franz, a teacher at Hilltop Elementary School, said the trip to the symposium is worthwhile.

“They are being introduced to fields that maybe they don’t have that much knowledge on,” she said.

This story was originally published March 22, 2017 at 5:27 PM with the headline "Students get up-close view of military technology."