COVINGTON, La. — A pale building is tucked behind US Hwy 190, in Covington, surrounded by barbed wire. What's inside the Florida Parishes Juvenile Detention Center though, isn't as tough as it's exterior. Instead, the sights and sounds we found would likely shock many. Laughter fills the air alongside the buzzing of tiny robots.
Ten kids who are serving their sentences there are now part of a first of its kind robotics program. The detention center has teamed up with Northshore Robotics and for the past few weeks the kids have been learning to code and bring robots to life. These kids are part of the center's post adjudicated program.
"Kids are actually sentenced or adjudicated delinquent and put in our custody," Joseph Dominick, Executive Director of the Florida Parishes Juvenile Detention Center says.
While some of the students told us they never thought they'd be interested in robotics, now they say it's "cool".
"It was super cool when we started, we got to tinker with the robots, make the do basic functions. It’s really cool seeing your work be put into something live as you're doing it," Isaac, a robotics student said.
Dominick says when the idea was brought to them, there's was hesitation at first, from all sides.
"It’s very difficult to get kids to open up to something they’re not familiar with especially kids that are used to criminal behavior or just juvenile delinquency," Dominick said.
The hesitation didn't last long though. Northshore Robotics Board President and the kids' teacher, David Shapiro said within the first session the kids were hooked.
"Our original plan for the first session was to try for a half hour and see where it goes. What ended up happening was at an hour the faculty at the detention center started to give us hints that they needed to go to their next task because the kids were so engaged," Shapiro said. "There’s a vacuum and they’re just absorbing this information as quickly as they can."
The coding skills that they're learning are qualities that big tech companies like Amazon and IT departments look for in potential employees. Shapiro says the kids are learning basic coding right now, but with the speed at which they're learning, he says they can move on to java script or python in no time. But that's not it.
"It’s really bigger than the little robots we work with," Keith, a robotics student said.
Beyond the STEM education, they're getting life education that'll not only help them while they're serving their sentence but also after they leave like teamwork, leadership, communication and focus.
"Problem solving skills.... team work. I plan on having a job so obviously I have to work around other people so me working with these other youth and things like that makes me better prepared for when that time comes," Keith said.
"I feel like we’re putting our minds to work doing it and I feel like that is really good for us," Isaac said.
Part of the detention center's purpose is to rehabilitate but rehab may not be the right word. Shapiro says instead of just fixing what's injured, they're taking it a step further.
"I’m not just helping them getting their leg back I’m helping them get a bionic leg. So not only are they going to be rehabilitated but they’re going to be able to do something more than when they came in here that gives them more opportunities more experiences," Shapiro said.
Along with the useful skills, it's also giving them hope. Hope for a future outside the detention center walls, whether or not robotics is in their plan.
"For now I can’t see myself working with robots but I’ll be very interested in working on the computers for Tesla," Keith said.
"I don’t know exactly but tech wise I think it’d be a good job for me," Isaac said.
Until they leave, the program is giving them a new hobby to be passionate about.
"This is just the start and I feel like that’d be really cool especially if we can drive robots and it had a cool arm that can do cool stuff," Isaac said.
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