Sixty high school robotics teams from around the world gathered in Kenner, LA on March 24th and 25th, 2017 to compete for a spot in the FIRST Robotics Competition World Championship in Houston, TX. No other high school sport gives local students an opportunity to compete side by side with their international peers at a regional level with teams from the US, China, Turkey, and Mexico. These high-school level robotics teams, with the guidance of volunteer adult mentors, have 6 weeks to design, build, and program their competitive robot to perform a series of tasks as sport, using offense, defense, quick thinking, and scouting techniques. To build a successful robot, teams must use code and programming, CAD software, mechanical and electrical engineering, automation, and robotics. Upon completion, these teams brought their robots to the Pontchartrain Center in Kenner, where they competed with other Louisiana teams and with visiting teams from around the world, for a spot in the FIRST Robotics Competition World Championship. “FIRST is not just about the robot. Teams learn project management, leadership skills, public speaking skills, deductive reasoning, business planning, fundraising, marketing, safety management, community service and the importance of working as a team. They leave this program with greater self-confidence, an awareness of their community and the environment surrounding it, and with 21st century soft skills that can transfer into any college or career path they choose,” said teacher mentor Lisa Ranney.
Robotics Team Phenomena 3616 not only ranked first at the end of the qualifying matches, but went on to become the 2017 Bayou Regional Winners with alliance partners from Arkansas and South Carolina. The team will be attending the World Championship in Houston in April 2017. This will be the third time Robotics Team 3616 attends the World Championship under the guidance of Lisa Ranney, teacher mentor for the team.
2016-2017 FIRST FRC Team Phenomena 3616 Members from Lafayette Parish
Kennedy Abshire
Ruth Adams
Charlotte Adams
Burke Bolinger
Dustin Bourque
Madalynn Bourque
Janssen Dalton
Devon Davis
Blaze Duhon
Aaron Granger
Zachary Harrington
Justin Head
Stacy Head
Hayden Hicks
Michelle Jia
Emma Landry
Tate Leleux
Alessandro Lopez-Dupuy
Angel Malbrough
Leslie Mergist
Derreck Nguyen
Tommy Nguyen
Thomas Nguyen
Sahana Padumane
Devpallav Pal
Pilar Perez
Mason Picou
Collin Pitre
Ethan Pitre
Logan Pitre
Alex Rahim
Katie Red
Jacob Roques
Scott Roques
Reagan Rowe
Dylan Sapp
Aarthi Senthil
Michael Smith
Micah Smith
Summer Sonnier
Eric Stevenson
Drew Verret