SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 44

WHEREAS, The Senate of the State of Texas is pleased to recognize Texas Torque, FIRST Robotics Competition Team 1477, which recently won the 2013 For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology world championship in Saint Louis, Missouri; and

WHEREAS, The Texas Torque team is led by mentor and science teacher Scott Rippetoe, and its members are students from College Park, The Woodlands, and Oak Ridge High Schools in the Conroe Independent School District; and

WHEREAS, The FIRST Robotics Competition is an annual challenge that draws contestants from all over the world; this year's competition required teams to construct and program a robot that could shoot flying discs through a goal and then climb a pyramid; each team is sent a set of parts with which to build its robot over a six-week period, and the teams progress through regionals and to the finals if they build a successful robot; and

WHEREAS, In the finals, the teams form three-team alliances that compete against other alliances to score points; in addition to requiring advanced science, mathematics, and engineering skills, the competition stresses planning and teamwork, and teams must be able to identify their own weaknesses in order to choose alliance partners that complement their skills in the final rounds; and

WHEREAS, Texas Torque was allied in the divisional finals with Theory6 and The Coyotes, both from Ontario, Canada, to form the Blue Alliance, which won the competition; and

WHEREAS, Students handled all aspects of Texas Torque's efforts, which included mechanical construction, computer-aided design, electronics, programming, brand design, fund-raising, community outreach, and media and public relations; and

WHEREAS, These young scholars have worked hard and demonstrated outstanding abilities over the course of the competition, and they can be proud of their well-deserved victory; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the Senate of the State of Texas, 83rd Legislature, 1st Called Session, hereby congratulate Texas Torque, FIRST Robotics Competition Team 1477, on their recent world championship victory as a member of the 2013 Winning Alliance; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be prepared for the team as an expression of esteem from the Texas Senate. Williams

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President of the Senate

I hereby certify that the above Resolution was adopted by the Senate on June 12, 2013.

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Secretary of the Senate

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Member, Texas Senate