Highland Prep's SeaPerch team successfully secured a spot in the 2024 International SeaPerch Challenge happening this summer in the state of Maryland. The annual international competition is an invite-only event where only the top teams who excel in registered regional competitions are invited. Highland Prep's SeaPerch team "Narwhals", comprised of high school juniors, Kaden Kalanick, Ryan Gladden, Kaedan Melton, and Keshav Sachan took home the three most notable awards in their recent SeaPerch competition, earning them a spot in the esteemed international competition.
During this recent regional competition, they were scored based on an obstacle course, mission course, and technical design report. Teams were given a total of six minutes to complete the obstacle course; Highland Prep's "Narwhals" finished it in an impressive time of one minute and seventeen seconds. For the mission course, they accumulated points based on the number of tasks they were able to complete. The sets of tasks included opening an elevator door, collecting water and rock samples, and placing the collected samples in certain areas. The Highland Prep team earned a total of forty-five points during this course.
Thanks to the team's excelling performance in both courses, they were awarded the three most honorable distinctions of the night- obstacle course award, mission course award, and overall champion award, therefore, allowing them to advance to nationals. When asked about the credit to their success, Kaedan Melton says, "Definitely the vast amount of practice owes a lot to how well we did. I really think how dedicated we all were as a team, got to us where we are." Kaden Kalanick, says, "Now, it's all about getting ready for nationals. If we're able to effectively use the experience we have gained so far from these competitions, I'm confident we can continue winning awards and advancing our SeaPerch program." Highland Prep's SeaPerch team is set to travel to Maryland for the international competition from May 31st, 2024 to June 1, 2024.