Cameron, who has XP, is pictured with the TAG Team, holding their winning trophy.

Vandalia-Butler TAG Students bring home trophy from LEGO League challenge.

Six talented and gifted (TAG) fourth graders at Vandalia-Butler City Schools have proved to be adept at research, and they have a trophy to show for it. 

Andrew Simones, Drake Midlam, Alyssa Burley, Clayton Longfellow, Sam Martin and Marissa Bass earned a trophy for research at the First Lego League challenge in December. The students competed as the Brainy Bot Builders.

For the competition, teams were tasked with two challenges.  The first focused on biomedical engineering.  Teams were required to research a real-life medical issue and develop an innovative solution.  For the second challenge, the teams needed to build and program an autonomous robot.

For their medical issue, The Brainy Bot Builders studied Xeroderma Pigmentosum, a skin condition that is characterized by photosensitivity, premature skin aging, and tumor development. According to Vandalia-Butler City Schools Tag teacher Tina Durnell-Smith, the judges were impressed with the team’s knowledge of the disease and the interest they took in finding an innovative solution.

“They also did very well in the robot competition as well as the team building session,” Durnell-Smith said. “I was very proud of my students as this was their first year and they were one of the youngest teams at the competition.