Arkansas 4-H team world champs in junior stock class at 2025 International SeaPerch Challenge
June 6, 2025
By Rebekah Hall
U of A System Division of Agriculture
Fast Facts:
- Hydro Rappers from Grant County 4-H won first place overall in junior stock division of underwater robotics competition
- Four Grant County 4-H teams competed, all placed within top 11 of 181 teams from four countries
- Competition held May 31-June 1 at the University of Maryland
(967 words)
(Newsrooms: With photos from competition)
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — The Hydro Rappers, one of Grant County’s 4-H SeaPerch teams, defeated 74 other teams to become world champions in the junior stock class of the International SeaPerch Challenge.
“I’m super proud of the kids,” said Brad McGinley, Grant County extension staff chair for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and SeaPerch coach. “They’ve worked incredibly hard, and it’s been a group effort. While our younger team did win overall, they were looking up to the older kids. It took all of us to get it done, and it really was a team win.”
The Hydro Rappers were one of four Grant County 4-H teams who competed in the International SeaPerch Challenge, held May 31-June 1 at the University of Maryland. The Hydro Rappers, the Sea-Cret Agents, Deep Water Vanguard and the Aquanauts all qualified for the international underwater robotics competition after earning top marks at the Arkansas SeaPerch Challenge in March. All placed in the top 11 of their divisions.
At the international competition, Arkansas 4-H members competed against 181 teams from four countries, including teams from China, Kuwait and New Zealand.
For the SeaPerch Challenge, teams build remotely operated vehicles, or ROVs, and then navigate them through underwater missions and obstacle courses designed to mimic deep-sea exploration. Teams are also graded on their technical design reports, in which they document the engineering and trial-and-error process involved in building their ROVs.
Grant County 4-H International SeaPerch Challenge teams:
- Hydro Rappers: First place overall, junior stock
- Team members: Cooper Henderson, Jackson Knight, Priyesh Laxmi, Abigail Martin
- Deep Water Vanguard: Second place overall, third place in obstacle course and technical
design report, senior stock
- Team members: Gavin McGinley, Gracie McGinley, Callen Shaw
- Aquanauts: Sixth place overall, open class
- Team members: Garrett Key, Priyam Laxmi, Eli Watson
- Sea-Cret Agents: 11th place overall, second place in obstacle course, junior stock
- Team members: Jaxson Andrews, Ella Daniels, Sarah Daniels, Luke Douthit
Serena McGinley, who teaches fifth grade at Sheridan Intermediate School and coaches the Grant County 4-H SeaPerch teams alongside her husband, Brad, said the program’s older students have led by example, inspiring younger teams.
“After years of competing in SeaPerch, our older students set high expectations for themselves at the state and international level,” she said. “I feel their excitement when they reach their goals and their disappointments when they don’t. They are brilliant problem solvers who are not satisfied with anything less than their best. Our younger students have watched our older students and reflected their expectations for themselves.
“All of our students invest countless hours into their projects,” McGinley said. “In my book, all of my students showed success in the competition, even if some teams did not place as high as they wanted. I’m proud of their dedication to the program and their relentless pursuit of their goals.”
Building a legacy through community support
Grant County 4-H has had at least one team qualify for the International SeaPerch Challenge each year since the county began participating in the competition in 2016. McGinley said he attributes the success of the program to his fellow coaches Tina Melton, who teaches eighth-grade career development at Sheridan Middle School, and his wife Serena — as well as the significant support the program has received from the Sheridan School District and their community.
McGinley said the Grant County SeaPerch students raised money for travel and hotel expenses for the international competition by hosting four fundraisers, including carwashes, selling hotdogs at Tractor Supply Co. and a fundraiser for which they sold bed sheet sets. They also received several sponsorships from local businesses and individual donors.
“This program would be nowhere without Serena and Tina, and along with our partnership with the school, it’s grown so much,” McGinley said. “The level of community support is incredible because everybody wants to be part of a winning team. When people see that you have the kids’ best interest at heart and that you’re trying to make a difference, people want to get behind it.”
The McGinleys and Melton said the county’s history of success in the competition wouldn’t be possible without parental support or the generosity of Beverly Wells, a former Sheridan School Board member who allowed the SeaPerch students use her outdoor pool to practice with their ROVs.
“From the schools partnering with 4-H, the Wells family allowing the use of their pool, the financial support from stakeholders and parents who help shuttle students and provide advice and feedback, we have the best support system,” Melton said. “But Grant County SeaPerch would not be what it is without the McGinleys. Brad and Serena are amazing leaders and I feel so fortunate to get to work with them and learn from them.”
Life lessons that go beyond the pool
Melton said that each year, the students begin preparing in October for the state SeaPerch competition in March, and when teams qualify for the international competition, they continue that work until May.
“It’s a lot of time and dedication, but if the kids are willing to take it on, so are we,” she said.
McGinley said the “eight months of work for 20 minutes of competition” creates high stakes for the students, which is why they begin the SeaPerch season with an important reminder:
“You have to embrace failure,” he said. “We learn things by failing, so things are going to go wrong, and we have to be able to overcome that. I also tell the kids, at this level, every detail matters. That’s what we’re really trying to instill, a sense of stick-to-it-iveness and attention to detail that’s going to benefit them in their lives moving forward after SeaPerch.”
For more information about the Arkansas 4-H SeaPerch program, visit the Arkansas 4-H SeaPerch Challenge page. For more information about SeaPerch, visit seaperch.org.
To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on X and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on X at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on X at @AgInArk.
About the Division of Agriculture
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.
The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on three campuses.
Pursuant to 7 CFR § 15.3, the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services (including employment) without regard to race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, sexual preference, pregnancy or any other legally protected status, and is an equal opportunity institution.
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Media Contact:
Rebekah Hall
rkhall@uada.edu
@RKHall_
501-671-2061