[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 62 (Tuesday, April 17, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E489]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             GIRLS OF STEEL

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. MICHAEL F. DOYLE

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 17, 2018

  Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to 
commend the Girls of Steel robotics team on winning the Chairman's 
Award at the March 2018 Greater Pittsburgh Regional FIRST Robotics 
Competition in California, Pennsylvania.
  This prestigious award honors the team that best represents a model 
for other teams to emulate--and best embodies the purpose and goals of 
FIRST. This award qualifies them to attend Championships that will be 
held in Detroit, Michigan, at the end of April 2018.
  FIRST, which stands for ``For Inspiration and Recognition of Science 
and Technology,'' is an organization dedicated to engaging our students 
in STEM fields. Hundreds of thousands of students gain practical, team-
based engineering experiences through FIRST every year.
  As a founder and co-chair of the Congressional Robotics Caucus, I 
believe competitions like these are incredible tools for helping our 
young people to explore potential careers in STEM. I've witnessed 
firsthand the incredible economic growth and development that these 
fields can bring in my home district, and I strongly believe that these 
fields are crucial to our nation's future prosperity. I want to commend 
organizations like FIRST for their important work in encouraging young 
people in these pursuits. The FIRST Robotics Competition allows 
students to apply creativity and critical thinking in the demanding and 
competitive field of robotics, all while instilling a strong sense of 
pride in participants.
  Thomas Pope, Systems Manager for the Institute for Software Research 
at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science, won the 
prestigious Woodie Flowers Finalist Award at the Greater Pittsburgh 
Regional competition. This award is presented to an outstanding mentor 
in the robotics competition who best leads, inspires, and empowers 
their team using excellent communication skills in the art and science 
of engineering and design.
  Kristina Hilko, a junior from Penn Hills High School, was a FIRST 
Dean's List Finalist at the Greater Pittsburgh Regional competition. 
This award recognizes an outstanding student leader whose passion for, 
and effectiveness at, attaining FIRST ideals is exemplary.
  In March at the FIRST Miami Valley Regional (MVR) in Ohio, the Girls 
of Steel won the FIRST Team Spirit award that celebrates extraordinary 
enthusiasm and spirit through exceptional partnership and teamwork in 
furthering the objectives of FIRST. This award recognizes the impact 
that these young women are having in our community as they 
enthusiastically spread the word about FIRST and STEM--Science, 
Technology, Engineering, and Math. As a result of those efforts, Girls 
of Steel are often featured in print media and blog posts.
  For the first time, they were also regional finalists at MVR with 
their award-winning robot.
  I think that their remarkable accomplishments speak volumes about the 
dedication these young women have demonstrated in pursuing STEM 
careers, their ability to sustain their team, and the thousands of 
hours they have spent collectively doing outreach in the community.
  Seventy-one young women from 8th through 12th grades associated with 
schools located in and around the Pittsburgh area represent this year's 
Girls of Steel program, and in recognition of their hard work, 
intelligence, and teamwork, I would like to mention each of these 
inspiring young ladies by name. They are Alexandria Adams, Aeryn 
Anderson, Meghna Behari, Emilia Bianchini, Emma Burnett, Gracie Cain, 
Rosy Chen, Suan Cho, Maria Chutko, Maya Cranor, Claire Cummings, Maansi 
Dasari, Riley Doyle, Anna Fedele, Rozie Fero, Isabella Florian, 
Alexandra George, Teadora Gildengers, Corinne Hartman, Sofia Heller, 
Kristina Hilko, Maia Hochheiser, Anna Jablonowski, Caroline Kenney, 
Janise Kim, Isabelle Kowenhoven, Mary Laird, Alice Liu, Sally Liu, Eve 
Mango, Svea McCann, Delaynie McMillan, Sree Mekala, Lauren Michaels, 
Abbey Murcek, Anna Nesbitt, Anne Kailin Northam, Jimin Oh, Helen 
Paulini, Lehka Pendyala, Emma Prokop, Grace Raida, Lauren Raida, Ananya 
Rao, Priya Ray, Sedona Rocher, Rachel Sadeh, Brittany Sadej, Lauren 
Scheller-Wolf, Sarah Seay, Alexa Selwood, Swathi Senthil, Kriti Shah, 
Vivian Shao, Lauren Shovlin, Makayla Shreve, Isha Sinha, Amari Smith, 
Imani Smith, Kavya Soman, Aditi Srivastava, Anna Staresinic, Aditri 
Thakur, Mikayla Trost, Langley Turcsanyi, Anja Vojt, Janet Wang, 
Alexandria Westray, Rebecca Wettergreen, Ziya Xu, and Julia Young.
  Additionally, I want to commend the faculty and staff of Carnegie 
Mellon University's Field Robotics Center, who have mentored the Girls 
of Steel since 2010. As a result of their efforts, more young women 
experience real-world technological challenges and learn from some of 
the nation's best at solving these problems. These experiences will 
certainly benefit these young women in the future.
  I look forward to hearing about their progress as they advance to the 
FIRST District Championship in Detroit--one of the largest competitions 
of its kind. It's the equivalent of the Super Bowl for robotics. This 
will be their eighth consecutive trip in eight years and they will be 
competing against top teams from all over the world.
  I want to congratulate the Girls of Steel on their accomplishments. I 
wish them the best of luck in the upcoming robotics competition as well 
as continued success in their future academic and professional 
endeavors.

                          ____________________