Honor GorillaBots Robotics Champions

Senate Resolution No. 941 BY: Senator O'MARA CONGRATULATING the GorillaBots Team 5485 upon the occasion of capturing First Place at the New York Excelsior FIRST Tech Challenge Regional Tournament and ranking first in the Ochoa Division at the FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship in Houston, Texas WHEREAS, Individual and team championships are vital in healthy competition among our students; this Legislative Body commends rare achievements and pays special recognition to those who pursue such excellence and become examples for the youth of this great Empire State; and WHEREAS, Competition helps prepare students for the future by instilling in them the importance of teamwork and developing a sense of fair play; and WHEREAS, This Legislative Body is justly proud to congratulate the GorillaBots Team 5485 upon the occasion of capturing First Place at the New York Excelsior FIRST Tech Challenge Regional Tournament; and WHEREAS, For the first time in five years, the team qualified and competed in the Robotics FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship in Houston, Texas, April 16-19, 2025; the GorillaBots took First Place in the Ochoa Division and currently rank 26th in the world (out of 8,800 teams worldwide); and WHEREAS, A culmination of months of work, multiple hours per day, this prestigious event is such an honor to the members of the GorillaBots Team 5485 which is comprised of students from Horseheads, Elmira, and Corning, New York; and WHEREAS, The competition includes qualification matches and alliance selections; while competing, two teams are paired to form an alliance; one team's robot picks up blocks and puts them in a basket while the other team's robot brings blocks to a human who attaches a hook to them; the robot brings the blocks back to the center of the floor and hangs the blocks on a beam, and the alliance with the most points wins the round; and WHEREAS, At the Regional Competition, there are eight qualification matches, followed by alliance selection and playoff matches, which determine the teams that participate in the FIRST World Championship; and WHEREAS, The GorillaBots Team 5485 prioritizes mentoring new members to ensure sufficient hands-on experience; community outreach is another goal of the team, spreading the concept of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); and WHEREAS, The dedicated students of the GorillaBots Team 5485 work with the Science & Discovery Center in Corning, volunteer at their summer camps, mentor local middle school robotics teams, and build science kits and distribute them at various community events; they deserve admiration for their contributions of more than 800 hours to their communities within New York State; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to congratulate the members of the GorillaBots Team 5485: Jacob Chung, Lydia Chung, Andrew Clark, Kaeden Martinez, Aidan McGroarty, Niyati Sharma, Aditya Aiyar, Miroslav Goral, Sriram Aravelli, Frank Chen, Mark Mendez, Jennifer Yu, Matthew Han, and Caylee Hinman upon the occasion of capturing First Place at the New York Excelsior FIRST Tech Challenge Regional Tournament; and be it further RESOLVED, That copies of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be transmitted to the members of the GorillaBots Team 5485; and Coaches, Lauren Chung, Michael Nishimoto, and Mark Joiner.