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Caldwell Parish students place at state, head to Florida invitational; board urged to help fund travel
Summary
The district's robotics team placed second at state/regional competition, won awards for engineering and spirit, and earned an invitation to the Florida Sunshine Invitational in Daytona; coaches and parents requested help finding travel funding and noted community sponsors already provided some support.
The Caldwell Parish School Board recognized a robotics team that placed near the top of regional competition and earned an invitation to a national invitational in Florida.
Coaches and students described a multi-part competition judged on innovation, robot design, missions and core values. The team's Innovation project focused on an underwater exploration concept modeled on jellyfish; students said they iterated designs with input from a 3-D modeling class and received feedback from experts, including a note from an inventor associated with ORCA.
Student team members explained the robot's mission runs, scoring rules and the technical challenges of attachments such as a Trident mechanism. The presenter described the team's recent results: second place at a state/regional event, an engineering-excellence award and an invitation to the Florida Sunshine Invitational in Daytona, where teams from other states and countries will compete.
Board members congratulated the students and asked if district funds could help with travel. Presenters said much of the team's travel funding came from sponsors and community donations but asked the board to consider available discretionary funds; one board member suggested the finance committee review a modest allocation from the general fund or reallocate grant funds to cover invitational costs.
The board voted unanimously on other agenda items and asked staff to follow up on funding options.
