Skip To Main Content

Columbia High Student Earns FAA Part 107 Certification

Joshua Shoulders, a rising junior at Columbia High School, has earned his Part 107 Certification from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), allowing him to fly drones for commercial usage.

He is the first Richland One student in history to earn his Part 107 certification before graduating high school.

“I’m really happy I earned this certification. I want to be a pilot, so this is big step towards that,” Joshua said.

He was one of 16 students in Richland One’s high school BLAST (Building Lasting Aerospace and STEM Trajectories) national defense magnet program to earn their FAA certification in recreational drone usage in October 2024.

###

Boy smiling

PHOTO: Joshua Shoulders, a rising junior at Columbia High School, has earned his Part 107 Certification from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), allowing him to fly drones for commercial usage.