The Whirly Girls met up Friday morning to discuss and decide which events they would each be competing in for Brevard County’s Innovation Games.

The Innovation Games is an event in which students from all over Brevard County come to compete in a diverse series of STEM-related competitions. It will take place in March.

The girls will specifically be participating in the Unmanned Aircraft System Challenge, which specializes in the usage of drones and mini quad-copters. In this challenge, students will compete in a field filled with obstacles and showcase their skills. Various categories within with challenge include head-to-head races and the Bullseye Run.

The girls are especially looking forward to the new “Dancing with the Drones”category in which their drones will perform a synchronized dance with music and lighting. Varsity Whirly Girl Aubrey Tegland is choreographing the dance.

“I’m nervous about doing that,” Tegland said. “I have never choreographed a dance before.”

According to Jill Whitacre, the team’s coach and sponsor, the girls selected which event they would each be a part of in order to begin concentrating on the skills required to excel in each category.  Whitacre said that there will be an increased number of practices after Winter Break in order to properly prepare for this competition.

Despite the amount of work that the girls are likely to face in the upcoming months, Abby Hedrick (9) expressed an enthusiastic attitude regarding the competition.

“I’m super excited about the competition,” the varsity Whirly Girl said. “We have competed in three of the categories in previous years, so we should do well.”

By Aytek Abdulla