Teams from Gloucester High School and Page Middle School have qualified for the 2015 SeaPerch National Challenge set for May 29-30 in Dartmouth, Mass.

Eight Page students, along with coaches Ruth Manifold and Craig Doolittle, made the trip to Newport News on Saturday for the Tidewater Regional SeaPerch competition at the Midtown Aquatic Center.

To prepare for the contest, the students worked in teams of two or three to customize their kit-built underwater remote operated vehicles (ROVs) and created posters describing and illustrating their work. The posters and a verbal presentation are judged as part of their final competition score.

Initial testing of the ROVs was performed in a bucket of water, which lets students test the robot’s ability to submerge and resurface.

The Page students were able to test the maneuverability of their ROV thanks to the Hampton Inn, which Manifold said gave the kids some indoor pool time one afternoon. She said without the pool testing, the stude...