Denham Venom Hosts Scotlandville Robotics for Collaborative Build Day
Denham Springs, La. – Nineteen students from Scotlandville Magnet High
School visited the Denham Springs High School STEM and Robotics Center this week for a hands-on introduction to competitive robotics and the opportunity to leave the joint session with a robot they built themselves.
The visit paired Scotlandville Magnet Robotics (FRC 11342), a first-year team and the only public school FIRST Robotics Competition team in East Baton Rouge
Parish, with Denham Venom (FRC 8044), Louisiana’s top-ranked team and a program in the top 2% worldwide.
The mentorship was arranged through FIRST Louisiana-Mississippi, which selected Denham Venom as a mentor team for the rookie program.
“By pairing rookie teams with veteran peer advisors, FIRST fosters mentorship, strengthens collaboration, and provides students on both teams with authentic leadership experiences unlike any other STEM program,” said Carolyn Arthurs, Regional Director of FIRST Louisiana-Mississippi.
Both teams are preparing to compete at the Bayou Regional on April 3-4 at the Pontchartrain Center in Kenner. Scotlandville Magnet Robotics competes under the direction of sponsors Timeisha Holland, Chaquoncio Ruffin, Jeremy Noah, and Eric Lewis. Denham Venom, now in its seventh season with 50 active students, operates out of the Denham Springs High School STEM and Robotics Center under Head Coach Daniel Eiland.
“One thing Scotlandville is known for is our sports,” Holland said. “Here today, we have football players, dancers, basketball players, softball players, bowlers, and they are all learning that robotics and engineering is a sport too. It’s changing their lives.”
For many of the students, it was their first time using power tools or hand tools of any kind.
Denham Venom’s student leadership directed the build day, with each leader guiding Scotlandville students through a different subsystem of a FIRST Kitbot. By
the end of the day, the Scotlandville team completed their drive train, shooter mechanism, and electronics board, gaining hands-on experience in Java programming, parts manufacturing, electrical wiring, and drive train assembly along the way.
NASA House Mentor Lisa Comeaux from the Michoud Assembly Facility worked alongside both teams throughout the day.
Eiland said the experience helped his students build confidence and learn more about their own program. “Students don’t really know what they know until they get an opportunity to teach it to someone else. It’s partnerships like this that build community and create friendships that go far beyond robotics,” Eiland said.
“Being able to mentor new teams reminds me of how far we’ve had to grow as a team,” said Denham Venom Build Leader Dominic Esposito, a senior at DSHS. “Except this time, I get to help them bypass some of the mistakes we made when we first got started.”
For more information about FIRST Robotics, visit
the First Inspires website.
