When Jeffries Epps listed the common attributes of the five MVPs of the 2026 N.C. 4-H Game of Drones —sportsmanship, authenticity and great overall attitude — Gage Greene was skeptical of his chances against his fellow competitors.

“When he was describing the MVP award, it didn’t seem like it fit me,” said Gage, a member of the Union County school team. But then Epps, whose company STEMerald City co-sponsored the event, joked that the first MVP winner had a much fuller head of hair than his own.

“OK, he’s talking about my hair. I was slowly catching on to it,” said Gage, whose curly brown locks fall below his shoulder, about the moment. “Winning was a wonderful feeling.”

Other MVPs included Zikera Jefferson of the Hertford County senior team, and middle schoolers Sawyer Vandemark of Nash County, Ella Gillespie of Guilford County and Jeremiah Butler of Bertie County.

Gage was a double winner, since his Union County team won first place in the high school competition after winning a tie-breaking challenge against Sampson County. Bladen County took third place against eight total high school teams.

The annual competition, hosted by N.C. A&T Cooperative Extension’s 4-H STEM program, attracted 17 middle and high school teams made up of students from across the state. They were assigned “missions” to decipher and complete by writing computer code to precisely maneuver land and aerial drones.

Mark Light, Ph.D., 4-H STEM specialist with Cooperative Extension at N.C. A&T, said all the teams completed the missions, despite some technological challenges during the April 11 competition at the Kathleen Price Bryan Family YMCA in Greensboro.

“But everybody crossed the finish line,” Light said. “And that's really what we what we want to instill with Game of Drones — that opportunity to not only compete, but the opportunity to finish and persevere.”

Family and friends supporting the teams also could try out their own coding skills, assisted by volunteers, to guide ground drones at the STEM playground on the outskirts of the competition area.

In its fourth year, the growth of contest has organizers considering holding regional competitions next year and having the winners compete in the finals in Greensboro.

“Now that we’ve got so many teams, trying to find a venue to house them has been a task,” Epps said.

Light is hopeful that regional competitions will increase participation more broadly. “We really hope to be able to get some folks in the mountains involved,” he said.

Epps said it heartens him when students, who train for months before the contest, tell him it’s the first time they’ve competed in something or it’s the first time they’ve won a contest. “I have to look back and say: If we didn’t create this opportunity, would this have happened?”

Thirteen-year-old twins Nathan and Caleb East were excited about their Stokes County team’s first-place in the middle school category.

“We worked so hard to win. It just felt amazing,” Nathan East said.

“It was good for learning teamwork,” Caleb East said. “When I’m older, I could possibly do something with STEM.”

Combined middle school teams from Guilford and Forsyth counties, and Edgecombe and Nash counties, won second and third place respectively.

“I really think the judges were awesome,” said Aubree Moss of the Edgecombe/Nash middle school team. “They gave us a lot of grace for technical things and they didn’t just skip right over it.”

And Tamiya Cherry gave a shout-out to her team coach, Bertie County 4-H agent Toniqua Young, M.Ed. “Best 4-H leader ever,” she said. Cherry and her teammates Ja’Nyiah Harvey and Carmello Gilliam Jr., said they enjoyed the competition.

“It was fun,” Gilliam said. “It was challenging at times, but overall, it was fun.”