HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

 1-1           WHEREAS, Members of the Friendswood High School Academic

 1-2     Decathlon team recently captured their fifth consecutive state

 1-3     championship in San Antonio at the annual Texas Academic Decathlon;

 1-4     and

 1-5           WHEREAS, Inaugurated in 1968 as a means of recognizing and

 1-6     encouraging excellence in academic achievement, the Academic

 1-7     Decathlon challenges students with a variety of subjects and

 1-8     topics, including mathematics, science, social studies, economics,

 1-9     fine arts, language, and grammar; team members must give a speech,

1-10     write an essay, and go through an interview as they compete for

1-11     team and individual awards; and

1-12           WHEREAS, Against a field of 20 Class 4A schools from across

1-13     the state, the Friendswood team collected 47 individual medals,

1-14     including 27 gold medals, and earned $24,000 in scholarship

1-15     funding; team members won all but one of the individual awards and

1-16     scored 30 out of 30 in the Super Quiz relay, an unprecedented feat;

1-17     and

1-18           WHEREAS, Team coaches Pepper Smith and Ruth Ann Krajefska

1-19     helped to successfully prepare their young competitors for the

1-20     team's fourth consecutive title defense; team members include

1-21     Reagan Murray, Brook Skeen, Gordon Davenport, Tommy Broughan, Josh

1-22     Hale, David Hayes, James Shead, and Jayme Temple and Eric

1-23     Steinhauser, both of whom participated in last year's victory; and

1-24           WHEREAS, The Academic Decathlon strives to include students

 2-1     from a range of academic backgrounds, and, to this end, each

 2-2     nine-member team is equally divided into "Honors," "Scholastic,"

 2-3     and "Varsity" divisions, representing students whose grade-point

 2-4     averages fall into the "A," "B," and "C" categories, respectively;

 2-5     and

 2-6           WHEREAS, The importance of recognizing and rewarding academic

 2-7     achievement cannot be overstated, and the members of the

 2-8     legislature are proud to commend the Friendswood High School

 2-9     Academic Decathlon team for continuing their school's long-standing

2-10     tradition of academic excellence; now, therefore, be it

2-11           RESOLVED, That the 75th Legislature of the State of Texas

2-12     hereby congratulate the members of the Friendswood High School

2-13     Academic Decathlon team on winning their fifth consecutive state

2-14     championship and extend to them sincere best wishes for continued

2-15     success and happiness in the years to come; and, be it further

2-16           RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be

2-17     prepared for the members of the team and their coaches as an

2-18     expression of high regard by the Texas House of Representatives and

2-19     Senate.

                                                                      Eiland

         _______________________________     _______________________________

             President of the Senate              Speaker of the House

               I certify that H.C.R. No. 213 was adopted by the House on May

         2, 1997, by a non-record vote.

                                             _______________________________

                                                 Chief Clerk of the House

               I certify that H.C.R. No. 213 was adopted by the Senate on

         May 28, 1997, by a viva-voce vote.

                                             _______________________________

                                                 Secretary of the Senate

         APPROVED:  _____________________

                            Date

                    _____________________

                          Governor