SWLA Tech Pirates

10/31/2026

Join us
#8808

10/29/2026

We’re excited to be part of STEM Day at the Lakefront at Port Wonder on Sunday, November 8!🤖

Come see the SWLA Tech Pirates and learn more about FIRST Robotics! We’ll be sharing a little of what our students do, from designing and building robots to programming and bringing their ideas to life.

There will be plenty to explore, with hands-on activities, games, food trucks, and other local organizations celebrating all things STEM!

A big thank you to Port Wonder and CITGO for letting us be part of this fun event and for helping bring STEM opportunities to our community!

📍 Port Wonder in Lake Charles
📅 Sunday, November 8
⏰ 1–4 PM

Bring the family and come spend the afternoon with us. We hope to see y’all there!

10/29/2026

Come visit us at Port Wonder for STEM Day at the Lakefront!🧪🤖

🔬🚀 Get ready to EXPLORE, CREATE, & PLAY! 🧪🎉

Join us for STEM Day at the Lakefront on Sunday, November 8, from 1 PM–4 PM at Port Wonder! Admission is FREE!💙

Bring the family for an afternoon packed with hands-on activities, exciting games, food trucks, and so much more! 🧬✨ With activities from local schools and organizations, there’s something for every curious mind to enjoy!

📍 Port Wonder
📅 Sunday, November 8
⏰ 1 PM–4 PM
🎟️Free Admission

Mark your calendars and get ready for an afternoon of science, technology, engineering, and math fun! 🧠⚙️🎨

10/26/2026

We’ve been busy behind the scenes, and we’re excited to give everyone a little sneak peek at what we’ve been working on!

We’re currently putting the finishing touches on a 50+ page proposal that takes a closer look at our team’s growth, our accomplishments, and where we envision SWLA Tech Pirates heading in the coming years.

We’ll soon be sharing it with our current and prospective sponsors to give them a better understanding of what we’re building, the impact we’re making throughout Southwest Louisiana, and the opportunities we’re working to create for our students.

And that’s not all! We’re also working on some exciting developments, including bringing additional engineering mentors from area companies on board to help our students continue learning and growing.

There’s a lot happening behind the scenes, and we’re excited about the direction our team is heading.

As a community-based robotics team serving five parishes, we want more students, families, and industry professionals to know about the opportunities available through our program.

If you’ve ever thought about joining the Tech Pirates, whether as a student, mentor, or community partner, now is a great time to get involved!

It’s a great time to be a Tech Pirate, and we can’t wait to share what’s next!

“More Than Robots. We Build Futures.”

10/23/2026

‼️

Why would a robotics team call itself the Tech Pirates? 🏴‍☠️

Many people don’t know our history. It starts with where we come from. Southwest Louisiana has a rich pirate history. Legend says the privateer Jean Lafitte sailed the Calcasieu River and hid treasure along its bayous. Lake Charles hosts the Louisiana Pirate Festival, and the city even had a hockey team called the Ice Pirates.

The Tech Pirates began in 2021 at Alfred M. Barbe High School as the school's first ever robotics team. Barbe's mascot is the Buccaneer, so our original students voted to name the team the Barbe High Tech Pirates. In our 2022 rookie season, those students built our first robot, DASH, and competed in the FIRST Robotics Competition game Rapid React. That's the team pictured here.

Then we had a bigger vision: to bring FIRST Robotics to students at every middle and high school in Southwest Louisiana, not just one campus. So after the 2022 season, we became the SWLA Tech Pirates, an independent community 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Today, students from public, private, charter, and homeschool programs compete together on one team.

When we left the school system, we could have picked a new name. We kept Tech Pirates because it reflects our local history and the place we call home.🏴‍☠️

We believe FIRST Robotics should be accessible to every student, no matter which school they attend.

10/19/2026

We’re so excited to kick off our 2026-2027 Champions of STEM spotlight, a season-long celebration of the partners who make our work possible, all tied to FIRST CANOPY: Engineer a thriving planet. 🌿

And we couldn’t ask for a better first honoree. DoW STEM has stood behind the SWLA Tech Pirates for many years, and we are so grateful for their continued support of this program. As a Captain Sponsor, they help our students learn, build, lead, and grow right here in Southwest Louisiana. We truly appreciate everything they do for this organization.

Thank you, DowSTEM, for investing in the next generation of STEM leaders in our community. We’re proud to have you on our crew! 💚🏴‍☠️

10/16/2026

Look who made the Day 2 recap! 👀🏴‍☠️💚 This time, you can catch a little clip of our robot scoring at the 2026 Americas LNG Summit & Exhibition!

We thoroughly enjoyed being part of this event. Thank you to everyone who welcomed us and took the time to learn about the SWLA Tech Pirates. We’re grateful for the experience and hope to see everyone again in 2028.

📹 Video credit/source: Americas LNG Summit & Exhibition

10/16/2026

Day 2 at the 2026 Americas LNG Summit & Exhibition was another great day for the SWLA Tech Pirates! 🏴‍☠️

Our students and mentors spent the day networking with engineers, companies, and industry leaders from around the world, making new connections and sharing what our team is doing right here in Southwest Louisiana.

One of our favorite moments today was meeting the leadership team ES2 | Geospatial, Surveying & GIS Consulting Services. We enjoyed learning about their work and bringing our robot over to their booth to show them what our students have built. They were genuinely excited about our program and the work we’re doing to develop the next generation of STEM talent.

Throughout the summit, our students had the opportunity to talk directly with industry professionals about their robot. And if you’ve ever talked to our students about their work, you know they don’t hold back! They can explain what they’ve designed, built, wired, and programmed, and the pride they take in their work is easy to see. Watching professionals listen, ask questions, and recognize the skills these students have developed was a highlight of this experience.

We also want to extend a sincere thank you to Lidia, Nell, Harry, and Emmanuel with dmg events for welcoming us to the summit, providing us with an exhibition booth, and giving us the opportunity to demonstrate our robot on the Innovation & Workforce Stage. We are grateful to have been part of such a valuable experience.

This summit gave us the opportunity to show industry leaders what we do. We’re developing confident students who can solve problems, work through challenges, communicate technical ideas, and bring their designs to life. More importantly, the mission of this program is to help our students grow into confident, capable future leaders who are prepared to make a difference in their communities and beyond.

In our program, our students learn how to lead teams, collaborate with others, take initiative, overcome setbacks, speak with confidence, and trust in their own abilities. These are skills that matter in the workforce, in their communities, and throughout every stage of life.

After two days of conversations with engineers, company representatives, and industry leaders, we left feeling even more confident in what we’re building. The talent is here in Southwest Louisiana. Our job is to help our students develop it, believe in themselves, become leaders, and have opportunities to show the world what they can do.

We’re just so proud of our Tech Pirates, and we look forward to continuing our conversations with the people we met at the summit!

10/15/2026

Look who made the Day 1 recap! 👀🏴‍☠️💚 The SWLA Tech Pirates got a little spotlight at the 2026 Americas LNG Summit & Exhibition! Check out the video and keep an eye out for our tiny segment! 🤩

📹 Video credit/source: Americas LNG Summit & Exhibition

10/15/2026

WOW. What an incredible first day for the SWLA Tech Pirates at the 2026 Americas LNG Summit & Exhibition!

Our students and mentors met SO many companies, executives, and industry leaders from around the world. We even got the opportunity to present our organization and demonstrate our robot on the Innovation & Workforce Stage!

The response has been incredible. We’ve had multiple companies ask us how they can get involved and support our program. Even more exciting? Some companies came to our booth offering INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES for our students! 🤯

One of our favorite moments came toward the end of the day when an electrical engineer from EUTEX International stopped by our booth. Our students walked him through the robot’s wiring, and he shared some tips on how they could improve it. Then, after watching the robot do its demo, he was genuinely amazed by what our students had built. He couldn’t stop complimenting our students and the program.

THAT is what FIRST Robotics is all about. Our students are designing, building, wiring, programming, troubleshooting, and presenting their work to professionals in the industries they may one day join.

Seeing our students connect with industry professionals, share what they’ve worked so hard to build, and have their talent recognized is something we are incredibly proud of.

We’re ready to do it all again tomorrow for Day 2!