[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 65 (Wednesday, April 23, 2008)]
[House]
[Page H2558]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                MICHIGAN STUDENTS FLEX INNOVATIVE MUSCLE

  (Mrs. MILLER of Michigan asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. MILLER of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, since the time of Thomas Edison 
and Henry Ford, the people from the great State of Michigan have been 
at the forefront of technical innovation, and that tradition continues 
today, this time led by the Thunder Chickens.
  And you might ask, who are the Thunder Chickens? Well, they're a 
great group of students from the Utica Community Schools in my district 
who were part of a winning team at the First National Robotics 
Championship held this past weekend at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
  Out of 340 competitors, the Thunder Chickens team built a robot that 
won a race, ran around a track, knocked plastic balls off a 6-foot 
overpass, picked the balls up and threw them back over an overpass. 
This was a robot that they designed.
  The Thunder Chickens victory proves once again that the innovative 
spirit is in the State of Michigan. My congratulations to the mentor, 
the team's lead engineer, and to the entire team for a job well done. 
And I have no doubt that in the future we will see some of these 
Thunder Chickens grow up to be engineers who invent the fuel efficient 
vehicles of the future.
  So when you think of Michigan innovators in the future, remember 
Henry Ford and Thomas Edison, and now think of the Thunder Chickens 
from Utica Community Schools.

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