Pacifica Stories

Our teachers' love of learning isn't limited to their own subject area — sometimes it means figuring out how to build something entirely new for our students. This summer, that meant a trip to St. Louis for David "Doc" Sumida, a member of the Pacifica faculty for twelve years with over twenty-five years of teaching experience overall.

At the end of last school year, Doc proposed launching a new robotics after-school club at Pacifica. To learn how to do it well, he attended the 2026 RECF (Robotics Education and Competition Foundation) Drone Competition Summit — a national gathering where educators from across the country trade strategies for building and running competitive robotics programs.

It's not Doc's first time building something from scratch at Pacifica. He helped launch the school's Aerial Drone Competition (ADC) Club back in 2023, which went on to host the inaugural drone tournament for the entire Westside of Los Angeles. This year, that same instinct for starting new things led him to a new club: PRO.

"Networking with teachers at other schools is vital to launching new programs at Pacifica," Doc said. "In this case, networking with a national organization like RECF was also critical to us launching both the ADC Drone Club in 2023 and the new PRO club this year."

Some of the most valuable moments of the Summit weren't on the schedule at all. On the final night, with most attendees already gone, Doc figured he'd grab dinner alone. Instead, one of the remaining RECF staff members texted him an invitation to join their staff dinner — a small gesture that turned into a real opportunity. "I was thankful that they would even think of me," he said. Over dinner, he found himself trading ideas with an RECF executive about drones and PRO teams in particular, the kind of conversation that doesn't happen over email.

For Doc, the trip was proof of something he'd tell any teacher considering their own professional development: "Without the approval of professional development funds for me to go to the St. Louis conference, the launching of the new robotics club program at Pacifica would not have happened this year." Because he made the trip, Pacifica students now have a new club this year built on real expertise — and a teacher whose curiosity about the field only grew.