Members of the Flippin Clean-up Crew include (front, from left) J.C., Lucas, Troy, Michael, Shawn, and (back, from left) Jordan, Amy, Stehvin, and Cody.

A rookie team took home one of the most prestigious awards at the FIRST Lego League Invitational Tournament in Houston.

The Flippin Lego League, nicknamed the Clean-up Crew won the second-place Directors Award at the April 10-12 tournament.

"I think we really showed people that if you try you can do anything, even if you are from a tiny school," said Cody.

His teammate Amy echoed his sentiments.

"People look up to us now," the sixth-grader said, "After we ran the robot during the Homecoming Parade, we had people coming up to us, telling us how cool it was. It proved we aren't just nerds playing with Legos."

The team, consists of sixth graders Michael, Stehvin, J.C., Amy, Troy, Jordan, Cody, Lucas, Shawn, and David. According to them their award means they achieved high marks for their presentation, teamwork, spirit and gracious professionalism.

The Clean-up Crew began last year, when students were questioned about their interest in the program. The sixth graders say their fellow students are now interested because of their trip and the awards they won.

The team represented North Texas in the National Tournament. It competed in Mountain Home's Lego League Tournament, but placed low after having a bad day, said Dianne Wade. It then placed second in a Texas tourney, garnering it the invitation to the nationals.

Most of the group said they noticed the math and science benefits from their FIRST experience, but like most sixth graders, they were more impressed with other perks.

"We got to see the Astrodome, the NASA Space Center and the FIRST Robotics teams' robots," said Troy. "Plus, we got to eat at Joe's Crab Shack - we danced on the tables to the 'YMCA' and 'Macarena!'"

Team coaches are Roger Leonard, Dianne Wade, Keith Schmidt and Mike Dennis. "They're great," said Shawn. "They didn't fix anything for us - they made us do it ourselves so that we learned something."

Cody calls his coaches really organized and said they made building the robot fun and challenging.

Clean-up Crew members chose to research vandalism in the Flippin City Park for their research project. After talking with the mayor and the police chief, they learned Flippin averages $5,000 of vandalism a year.

Using a multitude of cameras, the team devised a $20,000 security system for the park.

Susan Leonard, wife of coach Roger Leonard, tallied the team's work.

"They put in over 700 hours on this project, and that's before they went to Houston," she said.

The man-hours on the robot were split into different jobs. Some of the team did research, some programmed the robot and some did the actual building.

Amy, who has the distinction of being the only girl in the group, says she enjoys her position as the lone female. According to her male teammates, she is a force to be reckoned with.

"She always gets her wa because she is a girl," said Stehvin.

Amy countered that she gets her way only because her ideas are better.

"Maybe more girls could join next year," Stehvin said. "Just not on this team!"

The Clean-up Crew is adamant about their future together - they are competing next year and wish to stay intact as a team.

"Maybe we should get a new name next year," said MIchael. "Then we could retire these jerseys and get new ones."