Carson City, Nev. (KOLO) At Eagle Valley Middle School, six students are working to improve their LEGO robot. They're still not satisfied, even though it played a critical role in them winning the trophy at the Northern Nevada FIRST LEGO LEAGUE Championship last month.

"It was just an incredible feeling!" says Nevan McIlwee, 13. "To see all our hard work just paid off to get to that."

For this group, which calls itself the Jedi Engineers, winning that competition isn't enough. But it was a big deal. They beat out dozens of other teams at the competition at UNR. Teams were judged on their robots' ability to complete tasks and on their problem-solving skills.

Now, this group of seventh and eighth graders is gearing up for the World Championship Tournament in April in Houston, Texas. They will compete against more than a hundred other teams who are also champions in their own countries.

"It means a lot," says Kai Miller, 12, a Jedi Engineer. "I mean, we're going to see teams from all over the world. Teams from Europe, Africa, China, Russia, South America... It's really, really big for our community."

And while it was tough enough to qualify for this tournament, raising money is the new challenge.

"We are doing huge fundraising because it is going to be so expensive to go to World Festival," says Lisa Stocke-Koop, Eagle Valley STEM teacher and LEGO coach. "It's going to be over $20,000 before we're done."

That's because the students have also been invited to compete in an international tournament in England. Their teacher believes the kids are not just an inspiration for other students.

"These guys, they bring tears to my eyes," says Stocke-Koop. "When I look at what they've done and I look at how proud they are of their achievements... every one of these kids could change the world. And I am just so thrilled that I'm a part of their education."

The team has set up a gofundme account online to raise money for travel expenses. You can find it here: https://www.gofundme.com/lego-team-to-world-championship

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Local robotics students headed to World Championship tournament - KOLO