Students who are blind and visually impaired gathered for the first-ever “Minnesota Braille Challenge Competition” over the weekend.

Organized by the Braille Institute, it’s the only academic competition of its kind for students in grades one through 12 to showcase what they know.

“I was really happy for myself to be competing in this challenge,” said 3rd grade student Mila Halling.

Halling is a student at Madison Elementary School in Blaine. She was one of the students competing this weekend in spelling, reading comprehension and proofreading.

Halling proudly showed off her trophy, which was engraved in braille.

“It means education and learning… And finding out and feeling what you need to do,” she said.

Halling has been training for the competition since January. This year’s challenge included a dozen kids from around the metro. The hope is it will get bigger every year.