PORT ALLEN — A two-year-old high school robotics team from West Baton Rouge Parish made history last April by becoming the first team from the parish to attend the FIRST Robotics World Championship.

The Catahoula Blue Dogs, based at Port Allen High School, finished 11th out of 40 Louisiana teams at the championship.  

Attending Worlds as a newer program is rare. Only about 10% of the 600 teams that attend the championship are two years old or younger.

At the championship, teams form alliances with schools they've never worked with before, sometimes communicating across language barriers.

"I really felt like it was something bigger than myself. I was in a place with many different people from many different backgrounds from many different places," sophomore Jessie Loucks said.

Robotics team members have eight weeks to design and build their robot before competition. Team roles range from designing and building to fundraising.

The Catahoula Blue Dogs are already working toward next season, rebuilding and improving previous robots while testing ideas and training for upcoming competition.