The concept of those who can, do; those who can’t teach hardly applies to Mr. Joseph Winstral. Winstral is known to many as their AP statistics and ACT prep teacher, but for a small group of thirty students, he is the new drone teacher at Hazelwood West High for the 2025-2026 school year. Winstral has been teaching at West for six years, commonly as a math teacher. Overall, he has been a teacher for nine years in total. Before teaching, he even worked on Wall Street for 20 years as an equity trader.
From military uses in 1931 to today’s new focus in photography and delivery services, drones have shifted from battlefield equipment to one of the most expensive and mainstream services of photography and transportation today. Furthering the popularity of drones, drone piloting has even been transformed into a curriculum in many school districts, allowing their kids to study and learn to pilot a drone for themselves. Hazelwood West High is one of the small number of schools in Missouri that offer drone piloting classes to be taught and practiced.
Winstral spent his early career as an equity trader in Manhattan and decided to transition to math teacher about six years ago. From teaching math-heavy classes and ACT prep, Winstral was recommended by the former drone-piloting teacher to fill his position. Winstral, being always up for a new adventure, did not argue and was more than willing to accept the challenge.
“Yeah, I mean, I didn’t do that well clearly [on Wall Street], but I had a lot of fun,” Winstral said. “The switch to teaching from Wall Street was easy. Wall Street burnt me out, so I decided to teach instead.”
With no prior experience with drones at all, Winstral jumped right in, ready to learn about the curriculum. To gain certification, the FAA requires educators to just pass the test, so after studying for hours, Winstral passed.
”I learned everything in two days,” Winstral said. “I was pretty stoked, I passed with an 87% I only needed a 70% to pass.”
With about a week of preparation, Winstral took to the skies literally. In the first weeks of school, his students started flying. This new drone-piloting teacher believes in hands-on learning to help stimulate the mind and allow students to be familiar with what a drone is.
“Yeah, my students are great drone flyers. I have them do something new every class, and I even make them fly with a blind fold covering their eyes,” Winstral said.
Winstral has his share of anxiety around teaching the curriculum with his students. Learning the airspace, rules and weather patterns is important and difficult. While nervous, he is eager to start teaching his students FAA-related topics so they are able to pass the test.
”It’s too early to say how my students will take the curriculum, but they’re a smart group, and I have faith they will do just fine,” Winstral said.
”I am thankful to Karl Herman for allowing me the opportunity to teach this class and for coming back to educate and guide me through my drone training. I still reach out to him with questions, and he is very helpful with growing the drone piloting program here at West, even after retirement,” Winstral said.
