Senator Switalski offered the following resolution:

Senate Resolution No. 139

            A resolution honoring the ThunderChickens, world champions in the FIRST Robotics Competition Championship.

            Whereas, It is a great pleasure to congratulate the students, mentors, teachers, and parents of the ThunderChickens, who shared the honor of being the world champions in the FIRST Robotics Competition Championship along with two other teams. On behalf of the people of Michigan, we thank everyone who has contributed to this success of these Utica Community Schools students; and

            Whereas, FIRST--"For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology"--seeks to inspire young people’s interest and participation in science and technology through a competition that melds robotics and sports. Teams have six weeks to design and build, from a kit of hundreds of parts, a robot that competes in various sporting events; and

            Whereas, This year, students created robots that fired foam balls through hoops, plowed into floor goals, and used a vision system to navigate on the field. More than 1,130 teams from the United States and six other nations participated at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta in April; and

            Whereas, The ThunderChickens, which competed as Team 217 in the competition, is comprised of the following students:

Eisenhower High School Stevenson High School Ford II High School

Michael DelBene                      Stephanie Hasty                                    Anthony Schuller

Jessica Zavadil              Sala Sadaps                                         Michael Ross

Shannon Willaert                      Steven Perry                                         Ashley VanMaldeghem

Gregory Petty                           Joshua Bails                                          Shayna Kunz

Annette Palazzolo                     Brian Turoski                                        David Orban

Jacob Miller                             Irene Zhu                                              Paul Szymanski

Joseph Guzzardo                      James Courtois                         Andrew Fonk

Sara Craun                               Tony Kraus                                          Gregory Lau

Nina Fabian                              Michael Harrison                                  Aaron Vedolich

Kyle Yaxley                             Ryan Boyle                                           Brian Lademan

                                                Brett Ankawi                                        Mihai Bulic

Utica High School                     Michael Lee                                         Heather Hampton

Salvatore Mattera                                                                                 Ed Lionte

Joseph Scharnitzke                   Sterling Heights High School

                                                Chad Thornbro

; and

            Whereas, The mentors at the Utica Center for Mathematics, Science, and Technology include:

Teacher Mentors Engineering and Technical Mentors

Ron Arscheene             Paul Copioli                                          Jim Yaxley

Mike Attan                               Ed Debler                                             Rick Thornbro

Anita Stafford                           Bob Korson                                         Omar Zrien

Janet Kent                                Mike Copioli                                        Bill Baedke

                                                Mike Beem

; and

            Whereas, While the ThunderChickens team has won various regional and other awards since 1999, its members also find time to participate in community events. The team volunteers at Give Kids a Smile, a dental day for children without insurance, and other events around Macomb County; now, therefore, be it

            Resolved by the Senate, That we hereby honor the ThunderChickens as world champions in the FIRST Robotics Competition Championship; and be it further

            Resolved, That a copy of this resolution be transmitted to the ThunderChickens as a token of our highest esteem and congratulations.