While members of the Northeast Lauderdale High School’s Navy JROTC’s SeaPerch team missed out on a trophy at the 2024 International SeaPerch Challenge, they gained a lot of new ideas for their underwater robot.
“We didn’t bring home any trophies, but the team did really well,” said retired Cmdr. Chad West, Northeast’s Navy JROTC senior naval science instructor.
Northeast’s SeaPerch team was among the top 5% of more than 3,000 teams from around the world competing this season. The teams at the challenge represented 32 U.S. states, five countries and four continents.
The Northeast team was among 75 teams competing in the high school “stock class” division. The competition elements consisted of a technical design report, a 30-foot underwater obstacle course and an underwater mission course.
Northeast’s cadets finished the competition in the top 2%, earning an overall ranking as the 27th best team in the world, West said.
“We are extremely proud of the team and their accomplishments this season,” he said. “They demonstrated resiliency throughout the season but especially during the last two weeks leading up to the competition as they responded to multiple electric motor failures on their ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle).”
He said the students maintained their composure as they analyzed the malfunctions, then correctly identified the cause and found a solution just days before departing for the international competition.
“It was stressful for them but the experience taught them a lot about teamwork and collaboration,” West said.
Senior Dylan Lawrence said competing in the international challenge was a good experience for the Northeast team.
“It was really fun,” he said. “It was our first year to compete, so we were kind of learning to see what an international competition is like.”
Lawrence said the team got to see how other participants designed their robots, the materials they used and how they created their technical design reports.
“We were taking notes so we can come back and apply some of those things to our robot next year,” he said.
The students also go the chance to meet students from around the world, including New Zealand, Egypt, Kuwait and China, which he said was fun because a lot of them shared different ideas for building a ROV.
“Interacting with the international students … allowed them to see that they have more in common with each other than they imagined,” West said.
The Northeast students also got the chance to visit Washington, D.C., and see a lot of the monuments, the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon and the Smithsonian Museum.
“There’s value in any experience that is challenging, but an experience like this teaches so many things,” West said. “It’s a tangible example of how giving your best and working together toward for a common goal can pay off. It demonstrates that the rewarding things in life are rarely easy. There are plenty of discouraging moments for them, but with patience and perseverance they were successful. Finally, I believe it illustrates that great things can be accomplished when you work together and aren’t concerned with who gets the credit.”