{"id":416100,"date":"2026-08-25T09:16:32","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T09:16:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/416100\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T09:16:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T09:16:32","slug":"high-schoolers-map-inequities-on-san-antonios-south-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/416100\/","title":{"rendered":"High schoolers map inequities on San Antonio’s South Side"},"content":{"rendered":"

A gentle buzz zips through Pearsall Park\u2019s sunbathed sky during a late July morning.<\/p>\n

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Maybe the scratch of roller-skates at Pearsall\u2019s freewheel bike park? No, it\u2019s Liam Nerio, 17, flying a drone to capture 3D imaging of the park\u2019s features.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Liam is one of six students from CAST STEM High School who used their summer break to intern as drone pilots, collecting geographical data on the public parks and parts of San Antonio\u2019s Southwest Side under the careful watch of drone instructor Cerina Martinez-Zamora.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the first time these CAST STEM students take part of an internship.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve flown drones since I was like a kid\u2026 but I didn\u2019t know like all the regulations and stuff and all that until I took Mrs. Zamora\u2019s class,\u201d Liam recalled. \u201d\u00a0\u2026guess that kind of like made me\u00a0passionate about it. So, I think it\u2019s cool. I think\u00a0walkability is cool. So, when you put the two together, it\u2019s like\u00a0super cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"CAST STEM student Liam Nerio pilots a drone during a mapping session at Pearsall Park on July 21, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

Combining drone operations with geographic information services mapping, the 10-week internship program is the brainchild of the Dee Howard Foundation, an aerospace workforce development group, and former District 4 Councilwoman Adriana Rocha Garcia, now president and CEO of the Center for Health Empowerment in South Texas (CHEST).<\/p>\n

The program garnered financial support from Workforce Solutions Alamo to cover $3,000 for every student, and other groups like the 80|20 Foundation and Amazon covered equipment, instruction and technology-connected learning tools. <\/p>\n

And the program was especially crafted with CAST STEM students in mind since the school has offered a remote pilot certification for the past three years with help from the Dee Howard Foundation, which is behind a larger push to introduce students to drone pilot careers in Bexar County.<\/p>\n

Drone pilot careers have an untapped potential, said Christopher Mammen, executive director of Dee Howard.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis project \u2014 we wanted to introduce mapping as a new tool for these students,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s really building an aptitude for the technologies in the uses of artificial intelligence or cyber security or agriculture.\u201d<\/p>\n

What does a drone pilot do? <\/p>\n

Getting a drone pilot license is no walk in the park. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of regulations that a lot of people don\u2019t understand or don\u2019t know,\u201d said Martinez-Zamora. \u201cYou have to get certain authorizations, you have to check your airspace, you have to check for temporary flight restrictions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"CAST STEM students approach families at Pearsall Park ahead of a drone mapping session as a courtesy to let them know they\u2019ll be flying and recording the area before a flight and terrain mapping session on July 21, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

Certified drone pilots must be at least 16 years old and pass an initial 60-question aeronautical knowledge exam in an approved flying site.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The first semester of Martinez-Zamora\u2019s class is just trying to get students prepared for the exam, memorizing rules, safety guidelines and how to actually operate the drone.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Beyond a year-long drone pilot class, CAST STEM doesn\u2019t offer more advanced coursework where students can build on their initial drone pilot certifications.<\/p>\n

But Martinez-Zamora knew her students were ready for a bigger challenge, and when the Dee Howard Foundation approached her with the internship, she handpicked Liam, Mason Withers, Isaac Cerda, Lana Jimenez, Destien Terrazas and Jackson Piatnek, all between 16 and 17 years old, for the job. <\/p>\n

For the first few days of the program the six students and instructor camped out in the library of McAuliffe Middle School to find their flow. They designating roles, worked out the kinks in glitchy softwares and researched what terms like \u201cwalkability\u201d meant and how it could be measured with 3D images.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ll dive into it\u2026 It\u2019s a lot of like reading and learning, and so it gets tedious,\u201d said Martinez-Zamora on June 9. \u201cThey\u2019re learning so much new stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

That day, the team all huddled around computer screens, playing trial and error with tricky software programs to make sure their drone images came out clear and smooth.<\/p>\n

\"\"CAST STEM student Liam Nerio, 17, pilots a drone while other students monitor and provide troubleshooting help during a mapping session at Pearsall Park on July 21, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

They had already mapped the middle school building that served as their headquarters for the summer. They had also visited public parks in San Antonio to get a feel for what they would be capturing and practiced taking high-speed images on themselves as well.<\/p>\n

By then, the team had also loosely divided roles. <\/p>\n

Liam, Mason and Isaac took turns piloting the drones. Lana took on the role of recorder and journalist, capturing what she saw out in the field. Destien and Jackson were on equipment, ready to troubleshoot if something went wrong with the drone or other technology. <\/p>\n

In reality, they all did a little bit of everything, said Jackson. <\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like we don\u2019t just let one person do everything or one particular thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

By July 21, the CAST STEM pilots operated as a well-oiled machine.<\/p>\n

Outfitted in bright yellow vests with the words \u201cFAA Licensed Commercial Drone Pilot\u201d on the back, the team of six took on one of their last visits to Pearsall Park off Old Pearsall Road and SW Military Drive. <\/p>\n

At that point, the team had already captured much of the public infrastructure on the city\u2019s Southwest Side, noting the existence (or lack thereof) of shaded bus stops, measuring walkability, accessibility and safety. They\u2019d visited Pearsall Park several times, getting special permissions since the air space over the park borders Lackland Air Force Base.<\/p>\n

But they wanted to retake images of the park\u2019s freewheel bike track to capture more of the divots and texture.<\/p>\n

\"\"A drone operated by CAST STEM students flys overhead at Pearsall Park during a terrain mapping session on July 21, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

By then they had also presented some of their initial findings to District 4 Councilman Edward Mungia, whose district includes Pearsall Park. <\/p>\n

Students talked with Mungia about the park\u2019s features, noting a damaged zip line and damaged signage, pollution and a lack of sidewalks to make the park easily accessible to residents in the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 3D mapping really helps us,\u201d Isaac said while looking up to the sky, never taking his eyes off the black drone.<\/p>\n

Nearby, Mason operated the drone with a remote control, troubleshooting the early morning heat, wind and the device\u2019s altitude, all factors that can affect flying.<\/p>\n

The team also gathered qualitative data, surveying park goers on their experience of the park to include with their findings. Students were surprised to find that several Pearsall Park visitors were from all over San Antonio, but few were from District 4.<\/p>\n

Based on the surveys, it feels like it\u2019s hard for local residents to even get to the park, said Lana. \u201cLike it\u2019s close, but it\u2019s hard to get here.\u201d <\/p>\n

Documenting health inequities<\/p>\n

That day in Pearsall Park, the team also wore T-shirts with the CHEST logo \u2014 a quiet reminder of the internship\u2019s broader goal of documenting some the South Side\u2019s longstanding health inequities.<\/p>\n

\"\"Students return from a photo assignment on foot during a terrain mapping session at Pearsall Park in July. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

CHEST uses social determinants of health like walkability and shade structures to think of solutions to the health issues that disproportionately affect residents south of U.S Highway 90<\/a> in Texas, where life expectancies drop significantly compared to other parts of town and diabetic amputation rates are significantly higher. <\/p>\n

Rocha Garcia, who currently leads CHEST, said simple improvements to public infrastructure could help solve some of the inequity, but it\u2019s necessary for local leaders to actually see where the issues lie. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not until you\u2019re literally here that you get it, like it snaps, and you\u2019re able to see what we\u2019ve been talking about for a long time,\u201d she said, referring to historic redlining and underinvestment in San Antonio\u2019s Southside communities. \u201cThere\u2019s access, but not equal access.\u201d <\/p>\n

Part of CHEST\u2019s strategy to improve health outcomes is also to boost educational attainment and exposure to health careers that students may not have known even existed. That\u2019s where the CAST STEM students came in, documenting green spaces and making connections between their findings and the area\u2019s overall quality of life.<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s summer project isn\u2019t over just because they\u2019re going back to school, some to finish high school, others to start college. They plan on presenting their 3D imaging maps with local officials from the City of San Antonio and Bexar County.<\/p>\n

During the internship, the students also built geocaches, small containers used in real-world outdoor treasure hunting games, to place around Pearsall Park. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs the school year goes, we\u2019re going to be checking in on them to see how you know if it\u2019s brought new people to the the to the park and hopefully they\u2019ll be able to get a survey in the inside,\u201d said Martinez-Zamora, who was also able to secure more sponsors for a new drone and a free year-long subscription to DroneDeploy, a high-end software that converts drone imaging into 3D maps. <\/p>\n

\"\"CAST STEM Drone and Robotics teacher Cerina Martinez-Zamora demonstrates how she and the students utilize the Aloft Air Control app before, during and after a flight session to document and track their flights, as well as to check the flight ability of air spaces and request flight permissions if needed. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

At some point in the fall, the CAST STEM team will also be presenting to a Workforce Solutions Alamo board committee to share what their first internship experience was like.<\/p>\n

During that July 21 visit to Pearsall Park, only a few weeks from finishing the internship, the team agreed that the summer had already been a transformative one.<\/p>\n

For Liam, having to try different software and pivot proved an ability to grow and learn on the fly. \u201cYou realize how easy it is to pick up something if you really try.\u201d<\/p>\n

On his end, Isaac felt like he was getting better at presenting and speaking confidently. His teammates hummed in agreement. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know about everyone else, but like I\u2019ve had a bunch of fun,\u201d said Jackson. \u201cWhen we have like days off, I just wanted to come back to work.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A gentle buzz zips through Pearsall Park\u2019s sunbathed sky during a late July morning. Is it a bird?…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416101,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[67397,20616,144949,144950,61013,82,144951,84,83,4937,26792,15378,28676,92,93,16057],"class_list":["post-416100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-adriana-rocha-garcia","tag-cast-stem","tag-dee-howard-foundation","tag-high-school-internships","tag-pearsall-park","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-drones","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-south-side","tag-southwest-isd","tag-southwest-side","tag-swisd","tag-top-story","tag-typefeature","tag-wc-1500-2000"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}