The Buchanan Botcats participated in an exciting Virginia First Lego League (FLL) Lynchburg Regional Tournament on Saturday, November 10 at Timberlake Christian School. The Buchanan Botcats competed against 15 teams in Division I and were awarded the Champion’s Award, 2nd Place for overall performance.  This qualified the team to be invited to compete at the state level in December at JMU.  Botetourt County will be well represented at the state level, as the CAMS 4H Robo Patriots team finished in first place and will join the Botcats at state!

Buchanan Elementary school is the only elementary school in the county with a First Lego League team.  First Lego League is made possible at Buchanan Elementary through the enthusiastic dedication of a Buchanan second grade teacher, Mrs. Livingston and her husband, Dr. Livingston. Students have practiced once or twice a week since the beginning of the school year, working hard at learning how to program the Lego Mindstorm robots. This year’s theme is Senior Solutions.  FLL goes beyond robotics; the team partnered with the Glebe to learn about concerns of their residents.  They turned specific concerns into a project and developed a model solution.  The team made two trips to the Glebe; the first trip was to talk to residents and gather ideas. Later, they went back to the Glebe to present a skit that they wrote demonstrating the mobility solution they created.

The team wishes to extend thanks to their sponsors as well.  Buchanan Elementary School, the Buchanan Elementary PTA, and Virginia Military Institute Department of  Electrical & Computer Engineering provided generous financial support to the team.

The Buchanan Botcats is comprised of ten 4th and 5th grade students: Kevin Austin, Ethan Bunch, Lakota Lucado (captain), Autumn Nester, Ethan Wagner, Angela Wenk, Michael Carlough, Jaycee Harris, Kye Gonino, and Dillon Minnix.

Submitted by Barbara Livingston