Coconut Creek High Drone Team Takes First at Nova Middle Championship

Coconut Creek High School’s Cougar Drone Team took first place at a drone championship held at Nova Middle School, a result that put Israël Chery, Dentley Estimé, Olga Martinez and Smith Mathieu at the front of Broward County’s rising youth drone scene. The team was led by Ms. Mahilum and Mr. Imbert, and the win added another marker to a program that is starting to look less like an extracurricular club and more like a development track for future racers.

That distinction matters because teams in Drones in School do more than fly prebuilt machines. The model emphasizes real construction work: students design, fabricate, assemble and test the drones they race, using CAD, 3D printing and iterative design processes. In a sport where control, tuning and repeatability separate the fast from the merely airborne, that kind of hands-on training gives school programs a competitive edge that reaches beyond the classroom.

The structure of the competition also points to a larger pathway. Drones in School teams accumulate race points across the season to qualify for an invitation to the National Championship Race in the spring, and the 2025 championship drew 27 teams at the AUVSI XPONENTIAL conference in Houston, Texas. Coconut Creek’s victory at Nova Middle School fits into that system, where school teams are not just learning the mechanics of flight but entering a points-based ladder that can carry them onto a national stage.

The Coconut Creek result also comes with momentum. A separate Drone Cougars showing on November 15, 2025, ended with a second-place finish at the Drone Jamboree at Pines Collegiate Academy 6-12. That team was coached by Almoneva Mahilum and included Dentzley Estime, Smith Christianh Mathieu, Rose Valery and Israel Chery, a sign that the school’s drone program has already been building depth across multiple events.

For Broward County Public Schools, the win sits inside a broader pattern of STEM success, with district teams earning notice in robotics and other competition circuits. For drone racing, it is more specific than that: Coconut Creek’s latest title suggests school-based programs are creating the kind of repeatable training, coaching and access that can feed the sport with real talent, not just enthusiastic beginners.