FERRIDAY — Inexperience didn’t stop Delta Charter School’s middle school robotics team from placing third earlier this month in robot performance at the First Lego League State Tournament.

Members of the Delta Storm robotics team had been preparing to compete throughout the first semester, culminating in the statewide competition at New Orleans. There, students competed for the first time against 60 teams, some from much larger school programs.

The team consisted of 10 members, Braxton McGraw, Ryan Lance, Trace Hilbun, Fisher Hall, Semaj Davis, James Morace, Kayla Arnold, Taylor Morea, Karlee Mize and Ryane Maxie.

For many of the students, it was their first year on the team.

“They worked really hard,” Robotics teacher Emily Dawkins said. “They spent at least five to 10 hours a week since qualifying to prepare for state.”

In addition to designing a robot to complete tasks, teams had to complete a project on a certain topic, such as transportation and climate. The project is meant to help reinforce STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) values and in addition to expose children to different career paths and teaching them job and life skills.

The project for this year’s competition was Trash Trek, which meant students had to come up with a solution concerning trash and the world’s carbon footprint. The team chose to design a biodegradable tire.

“You see them all the time on the road and we want to make a difference with that,” Mize said.

So, while the team created attachments and coded their robot to perform tasks, they also researched tires. Morace said the project helped him learn how to make a wood fiber which is strong as steel.

They put their research on one of two poster boards. The other board was their core value board, which explained how the group worked together as a team.

With everything primed and researched, the team traveled to Shreveport, where it qualified for the state competition.

“It felt awesome,” Mize said.

But Lance said the competition in Shreveport was also nerve wracking, since if they didn’t qualify for state, robotics would be over for the year.

“Robotics is fun,” Lance said. “We didn’t want to end it.”

Delta Charter didn’t qualify for nationals, but the team members are still excited about their achievement.

“It was pretty awesome to realize we were in third,” Morea said.

The excitement wasn’t just confined to the team.

“My dad was so happy with me he almost flew through the roof like Superman,” Mize said.

Dawkins said she was proud of the students. The experience at the tournament, Dawkins said, showed the students their showing wasn’t all about their robot’s performance.

“It’s about the project, it’s about the team, and it’s about having fun,” Dawkins said.

Although the season is over, many of them plan on coming back next year.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Mize said.