Brooklynn K. Strickland: Built for More Than One Lane

I have always been a leader, in sports, in student council, and in the way I show up for people. Academic confidence was the one place I still questioned myself, especially reading and writing. SeaPerch did not change who I was. It helped my confidence catch up to my potential, and it brought the strength I felt on the field into my academic world. It also taught me something I wish every student could hear early, everyone’s brain works differently, and that difference is what makes the world beautiful and exciting.

Leading Comes Naturally, Hard Work Made the Rest Possible

Leading has always felt natural to me, on the field, in student council, and in the way I show up for people. Reading and writing took a different kind of strength. I have dyslexia, and for a long time I thought that meant I had to work harder just to keep up. I did. I learned how to work twice as hard to keep up, and I learned how to hide the parts that felt hard so nobody would mistake that for weakness.

People saw the confident version of me, the athlete, the leader, the teammate who stays calm under pressure. Behind the scenes, I was building a different kind of discipline, the kind that happens when you keep showing up to the hard thing, even when it would be easier to avoid it. I learned how to find strategies that worked for my brain. I learned how to keep going when it felt frustrating. I learned that leadership is not just something you do in front of people, sometimes it is what you do quietly when nobody is watching.

SeaPerch is where all of that finally connected. It did not change who I was. It brought the confidence I had on the field and in leadership roles into my academic world. It showed me that everyone’s brain works differently, and that difference is not a bad thing, it is what makes the world beautiful and exciting.

Quiet grind, loud results.

The Moment PB & Jellyfish Became My Forever Team

When PB & Jellyfish first became a team, I said something like, “I probably should not be the one leading the documentation or technical report stuff.”

My teammates did not let that be the end of the story.

When my teammates asked me to lead documentation, it felt like they were handing me the one thing I usually avoided. They did it because they knew I could handle it, and they wanted me to see myself the way they already did.

They made it clear I was not carrying it alone. We would do it together, because that is what a real team does.

That moment did not change who I was socially. It changed how I saw myself academically. That is when my confidence started catching up to my potential.

SeaPerch Did Something I Did Not Expect

SeaPerch is not just building an ROV. It is learning how to think, test, adjust, and explain your choices. It is learning how to take a messy problem and turn it into a plan.

I became the kind of person who notices details other people miss. I started organizing our data. I started tracking our testing. I started helping turn our real work into real documentation.

Confidence did not come from being perfect. Confidence came from showing up and doing the work, even when it was hard.

A Technical Report Moment I Will Never Forget

At our district’s regional competition in 2025, we were only in fifth grade, and our technical report score was higher than every other team, including high school teams. That still feels unreal to say out loud, but it happened. We earned a 97, and it was the highest scored technical report our district regional had ever had at that time.

At our district’s regional competition in 2026, our technical report scored a 100. The best part was not just our score. Another team scored a 100 too, and multiple teams who attended our technical report workshops scored above 90. One third grade team scored an 88, which is amazing for students who had never written anything like a technical report before.

One fifth grade team scored an 85, and at first they were bummed out because they thought the technical report score meant they did not do well. The truth was the opposite. Even without placing in the Technical Design Report category, they had an incredible competition day, first place in the obstacle course, second place in the mission course, and they still walked away with second place overall. That is a huge achievement.

We hugged them, cheered for them, and then we could tell they were still stuck on that one report score. We did what engineers do, we looked at the data. We pulled up last year’s technical report score, a 62, and compared it to this year’s 85. Their score increased by almost 42 percent, 41.94 percent. When we told them that, everything changed. They finally saw what we saw, massive growth. We even told them our score only increased 3 percent, because growth matters more than being perfect.

That is what I love most, helping other teams see their progress and realize they can do hard things too.

When life got hard, I kept going

In fifth grade, I had a major heart procedure. It was scary, and it changed the way I think about resilience and what it means to be strong.

Strength does not mean nothing hurts. Strength means you keep showing up anyway.

SeaPerch gave me something steady during seasons of life that felt heavy. It gave me purpose, routines, teammates, and a reason to stay focused on what I can build next.

Why SEAPERCH Foundation matters

SEAPERCH Foundation matters to me because I know what it feels like to be confident in some places and still doubt yourself in others. I also know what it feels like when the right team and the right support system helps you grow anyway.

At the 2025 International SeaPerch Challenge, we saw how big this world is, and we also saw the gap. Not every team has the same access to tools, funding, pool time, mentors, or even someone who knows how to help when the build manual is not enough. Some students have the talent and the drive, but they do not have the resources, and that should never be the reason a kid misses out on learning by doing.

I care about this foundation because I have watched what support can do. I have watched students light up when they finally understand something. I have watched teams go from stressed and stuck to confident and improving. I have watched younger teams feel proud of a score they worked hard for, even if it was not perfect, because improvement is the real win.

SEAPERCH Foundation is our way of turning all of that into something bigger than one team. We support teams. We share what we learn. We build community through outreach. We help students believe they belong in STEM, even if they doubt themselves at first.

That is why this matters to me. Every student deserves the chance to build something real and feel proud of what they can do.

My hope

My hope is simple. I want students to find a place where they can grow without being judged for what is hard for them. I want teams to feel supported. I want kids to learn that leadership can look like kindness, consistency, and showing up, over and over again.

I want SEAPERCH Foundation to be the place that helps a kid go from “I don’t think I can” to “watch me.”

If you want to help more students find their people and build confidence through STEM, we would love to have you with us. You can support SEAPERCH Foundation by volunteering, sponsoring, donating, or helping a team in need, and becoming part of this Jellyfish journey.

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