ORANGE PARK – Holding a device built of piping, wires and foam pool noodles, Austin Hughes and Jordan Detwiler described the adjustments they’ve made to increase the speed and maneuverability of their robot.

“We used CPVC pipes instead of the normal PVC pipes, which made it a lot lighter and reduced resistance,” Detwiler said. “We also added newer, much stronger propellers.”

Improvements like these are what led the duo, who together make up Lakeside Junior High School’s SeaPerch competition team, to beat out 15 other teams and win first place at the Northeast Florida Regional SeaPerch Competition in Jacksonville in early April. Now they’re headed to Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge May 20-21 to compete against more than 150 teams in the Sixth National SeaPerch Challenge.

Sponsored by the Office of Naval Research, the SeaPerch program teaches engineering and design skills by providing students with kits and instructions to build their own underwater remotely operated vehicle, or ROV. With their robots in hand, students can enter into SeaPerch challenges, where they’re tested on how fast their ROVs can collect Wiffle balls or navigate through an obstacle course of hoops, all underwater.

Hughes, a seventh grader, and Detwiler, an eighth grader, are both students of Lakeside’s Engineering Academy. At one minute and 23 seconds, their robot had the fastest obstacle course time of any school at regionals – including the high schools. They also walked away with the highest scoring poster presentation.

The team’s scores at regionals are made more impressive by the fact that this year has been their first-ever experience with SeaPerch, and only their second competition of the year.

Hughes and Detwiler follow in the footsteps of Orange Park High School’s SeaPerch team, Awesome Otters, who competed in last year’s National SeaPerch Competition in Dartmouth, Mass. The team won the “Against All Odds” award for maintaining a solid team spirit and remaining professional after their motors completely corroded at the competition.

Lakeside’s team kept the same high spirits after facing challenges at their first competition in Daytona Beach, where they were penalized for modifying their SeaPerch at the competition –a rule they weren’t aware of.

“It’s hard when you’re starting something for the first time, even I didn’t really know what was going on because I had never been to a competition,” said Trudi Lawless, Lakeside’s engineering teacher and the sponsor of the club. “If that had been the only competition that we went to, we wouldn’t have gone to nationals.”

“I’m kind of glad that we didn’t qualify [in Daytona], because we didn’t have an idea of what a good time was. We thought our time, 6:12, was great, and we were really shocked to find out that it wasn’t,” Detwiler said. “Now we’re at a good time.”

The experience at their first competition in Daytona taught the kids “how to lose with grace,” said Lawless. Detwiler exemplified that point by adding that not qualifying at the Daytona competition “made us hustle more.”

With the Daytona competition behind them, and plenty of new improvements to their SeaPerch, they went on to beat the best high school at the Northeast Florida Regional Competition by 20 seconds and walk away with the overall champion trophy of the middle school division.

“They came into this knowing nothing about SeaPerch or submarine stuff, so I’ve watched them research hydrodynamics and ocean engineering, density and propulsion,” said Jim Hughes, Austin’s father. “And they’ve learned how to work together, to find each other’s strengths and understand weaknesses.”

“They’ve found something that they’re passionate about,” Lawless said. “These two work really well together.”

Ahead of this weekend’s competition in Louisiana, which has been paid for by a grant from the Clay County School District’s STEM Office, Lawless is encouraging practice with the new set of motors. But building a winning SeaPerch robot requires more than just the proper materials and practice. Above all else, the team’s independence and drive shine through.

“Keeping the energy alive is hard, because their last competition was a month ago,” said Jim Hughes. “But they’ve stuck with it. They’ve set dates to get to the pool, they’re up ‘til midnight working on the poster and the notebook. They’ve learned to make time, to make it a priority.”

On her involvement in designing and building her team’s winning SeaPerch, Lawless simply smiled and said “It’s all them. I just provide the opportunity.”