1-1 SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 815 1-2 WHEREAS, The Senate of the State of Texas is proud to 1-3 congratulate the James E. Taylor High School Decathlon team of 1-4 Katy, Texas, for winning second place in the United States Academic 1-5 Decathlon national finals at California State University at 1-6 Fullerton; and 1-7 WHEREAS, The self-discipline and dedication of this team 1-8 have brought well-deserved recognition to the school, the 1-9 community, and the state; and 1-10 WHEREAS, Since the establishment of this competition in 1-11 1982, Texas and California state champion schools have dominated 1-12 the national finals; the Katy-area record for the past five years 1-13 includes a national championship in 1997, seconds in 1998 and 1999, 1-14 and a third in 1995; and 1-15 WHEREAS, The Decathlon consists of written tests in 1-16 mathematics, social science, economics, literature, fine arts, 1-17 and science, and a live competition in speech, essay writing, 1-18 and factual recall; and 1-19 WHEREAS, Under the excellent tutelage of Biology teacher 1-20 Cynthia Swetnam and English teacher Susan Shellum, the nine-member 1-21 team compiled 49,845 points for its second-place finish; only 380 1-22 points separated first and second place; and 1-23 WHEREAS, Michael Griebe, Joshua Robinson, Charles Rubio, 1-24 Jackie Sokol, Cyrus Chen, Andrew Hsieh, Nick Vitolo, Leif Powers, 2-1 and Amit Gupta brought a tremendous sense of pride to their school; 2-2 now, therefore, be it 2-3 RESOLVED, That the Senate of the State of Texas, 2-4 76th Legislature, hereby commend the James E. Taylor High School 2-5 Decathlon team on receiving second place in the national finals; 2-6 and, be it further 2-7 RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be prepared for each 2-8 team member as a tribute of the Texas Senate. 2-9 Lindsay, Brown 2-10 ______________________________________ 2-11 President of the Senate 2-12 I hereby certify that the above 2-13 Resolution was adopted by the Senate 2-14 on May 3, 1999. 2-15 ______________________________________ 2-16 Secretary of the Senate 2-17 ______________________________________ 2-18 Member, Texas Senate 2-19 ______________________________________ 2-20 Member, Texas Senate