WHEREAS, MOE 365, the “Miracle Workerz”, is a Delaware-based team of students that won the Chairman’s Award at the FIRST Robotics World Championship held in Atlanta, Georgia in April 2007; and

WHEREAS, FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a non-profit organization that seeks to motivate young people to pursue educational and career opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math while building life skills; and

WHEREAS, the name MOE (Miracle of Engineering) was chosen by the team members in recognition of its founding sponsor the DuPont Company, known worldwide for its “Miracles of Science”; and

WHEREAS, more than 1,300 teams constructed robots to compete in the 2007 competition, representing the United States, Brazil, Canada, Israel, Mexico, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, and the Chairman’s Award recognized the Miracle Workerz as the best model for other teams to emulate and as the best embodiment of the purpose and goals of FIRST; and

WHEREAS, on April 30, the team was invited to the White House, where they demonstrated their award-winning robot to President George W. Bush and also attended a Congressional reception in their honor; and

WHEREAS, the Miracle Workerz team consists of 33 students who represent high schools and home schooling in Delaware and Pennsylvania, including the Charter School of Wilmington, Hodgson Vo-Tech, A.I. du Pont, Ursuline Academy, Cab Calloway, Newark High, Delaware Military Academy, Howard, Salesianum, Sanford, St. Mark’s, William Penn, Brandywine and St. Elizabeth’s in Delaware, and Kennett Square and Oxford in Pennsylvania; and

WHEREAS, the Miracle Workerz team coordinator is John Larock, staffing manager of DuPont Engineering, and the student members of the 2007 team are:

Andrea Agra, Team Captain (Ursuline Academy), Ilana Bagel (Kennett Square), Alex Beattie (Sanford), Candice Boucaud (Charter), Jordan Chambers (Delaware Military Academy), Eric Crowell (Salesianum), Jonathan Damian (Howard), David DeGennaro (Charter), Kevin di Girolamo (Charter), Eric Enslen (Charter), Julian Green (home schooled), Matthew Grusenmeyer (Charter), Rachel Hannaford (Cab Calloway), Ashli Henderson (Newark), Kara Henry (Newark), Eric Holland (Charter), Will Hopkins (Charter), Erin Lawler (Charter), Alejandro Londoño (Charter), Kirsten Lovelace (Brandywine), Ian Luft (Kennett Square), R. Lukas Lundmark (St. Elizabeth’s), Michael Metz (Salesianum), Andrew Miller (A. I. du Pont), Salvatore Panariello (Salesianum), Kenan Paulus (St. Mark’s), Byron Pierce (Charter), Joshua Roarty (Newark), Shannon Smith (Hodgson Vo Tech), Jesse Taylor (Sanford), DeWayne Walker (William Penn), Morgan Weest (Ursuline), Richard Wilson (Oxford); and

Whereas, since its founding in 2000, the MOE team has won 19 regional and 7 national awards, including the 2001 National Championship and the 2007 Chairman’s Award, and of the 147 team members during those eight years, 95% have gone on to college, with 81% majoring in science or technology and 12 have been awarded FIRST college scholarships; and

WHEREAS, in addition to their competitive endeavors, Miracle Workerz team members are engaged in a variety of services to the community; mentoring younger students in the FIRST LEGO League (middle schools), Junior FIRST LEGO League (elementary schools) and FIRST Vex Challenge teams; conducting the MORE literacy program (Miracles of Reading Education); hosting an event for Ulster Project Delaware; and conducting the “Flow with MOE” blood drive; and

WHEREAS, on Thursday, May 17 the Miracle Workerz and their mentors visited Delaware’s State Capitol, where they demonstrated a variety of robots the team has constructed, including their 2007 award-winner aptly named “MOEzilla”.

NOW THEREFORE:

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the 144^th General Assembly of the State of Delaware that the Senate hereby congratulates the MOE 365 Miracle Workerz for their excellent performance in the FIRST robotics competition and on winning the Chairman’s Award at the 2007 World Championship.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Senate commends the Miracle Workerz for their significant service to the community through volunteer work, and extends best wishes for continued success in robotic competitions and to individual team members in their future educational and career endeavors.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be presented to the members of the MOE 365 Miracle Workerz upon its passage.

SPONSOR:	Sen. Amick & Sens. Copeland, Henry, McBride, Sokola
	on behalf of all Senators