4-H student teams from fourteen schools across the state clashed at N.C. A&T’s Moore Gymnasium this spring, testing their coding and critical thinking skills during the 2025 4-H Game of Drones competition.

The reward? To be declared the “Rulers of Earth and Sky.”

“This is a computational, thinking robotics competition,” said Jeffries Epps, host and CEO of STEMerald City, LLC. “We see this as an opportunity to give students the skill of coding and decoding that can be applied in the classroom and future career pathways.”

In land and aerial-based challenges, the five high school and nine middle school groups were given eight missions to decipher a mission, then write code using Python and JavaScript to navigate rolling and aerial drones to different points on a 9x9 ft grid, scoring points for accuracy.

“We’re trying to help our 4-H students become better problem solvers, better communicators, and for them to work as a team,” said Mark Light, Ph.D., 4-H STEM (science, Technology, Engineering and Math) specialist in Cooperative Extension at N.C. A&T. “In the real world, we all have to work with others and function as a team. This also gives them the technical skills for future STEM careers.”

Vance County Middle School teammates William Schubert, left, and Joseph Freeman high-five after completing a challenge in the Game of Drones competition in Moore Gym on the campus of N.C. A&T SU.

In addition to the competition, the event offered a “STEM playground” for younger guests, with similar land and aerial drones, as well as AI robotics demonstrations, on display.

“The playground helps younger folks who may be siblings of contestants or just visitors from the community who want to see the competition but also can try out the robots and drones and become future participants as well,” said Light.

Vance County’s middle school team and Bladen County’s high school team each won first place. Bladen County 4-H student Jackson Bridges received the MVP Award.

“I feel like we worked hard for this,” said Bridges. “Our team won second place last year and I wanted to try harder and win this year, so I feel like we did.”

Vance County team captain and 4-H Youth Development agent Micah Sharpe called winning the top prize “exciting”.

“We couldn’t have done this without our team,” said Sharpe. “They worked hard day in and day out, preparing for today, and put the work in.”