A $15,000 grant from the FirstEnergy Foundation is funding FAA Remote Pilot Certificate exam prep for 20 high school STEM teachers and 10 police officers at WarrenUAS, the drone training program at Warren County Community College in New Jersey.

The grant is part of a larger $55,000 commitment from FirstEnergy Foundation to New Jersey educational programs in electrical trades and STEM, and one piece of more than $5.5 million the utility has distributed to community programs across its service area in 2025. The funding will support five vocational school and community college programs.

"We need to prepare the next generation to meet those demands, whether they are working on electrical systems, flying drones, or engineering the next great device," said Doug Mokoid, FirstEnergy's president of New Jersey.

Pete Miller, chief pilot at WarrenUAS, said budget constraints often keep this kind of training out of reach for schools and police departments. He said the program is designed to close that gap.

Participants get hands-on flight time with WarrenUAS equipment over four training days, in groups capped at 10 students. Teachers came from 11 school districts across New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and officers from 10 police departments, the college said.

Delaware Township Police Chief Robert Illes, one of the participants, said drones are becoming standard tools for search and rescue, crash investigation and crime scene work. He pointed to his department's use case: locating elderly residents with dementia who wander in a rural area, without requesting a state police helicopter. He said his department is now budgeting for its own drone.

WarrenUAS is accepting nominations for a final round of training this fall, open to teachers from districts that haven't yet participated. The course runs November 11-20, on Wednesdays and Fridays from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The nomination deadline is October 9.

Interested teachers and administrators can contact Dawn Smith at [email protected].