[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 88 (Thursday, May 20, 2021)]
[House]
[Page H2633]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 RECOGNIZING PLEASANTDALE MIDDLE SCHOOL

  (Mr. CASTEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. CASTEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize Pleasantdale Middle 
School in Burr Ridge, Illinois, and, specifically, Jennifer Lauermann's 
fifth grade science class.
  Mrs. Lauermann is an educator, but more importantly, she is a rock 
star. Her students spent this semester studying rocks, interviewing 
geologists and other scientists across Illinois. They learned a lot, 
but something troubling emerged: Illinois does not have a State rock. 
Iowa has the geode, Wisconsin has red granite, but Illinois has got 
nothing.
  So as good citizens do, the class held an election. Sandstone, 
limestone, and dolostone emerged from a heated primary, and 1,200 
Illinoisans then voted in the general election, including me. I voted 
for limestone.
  My candidate didn't win, but it was a free and fair election, and it 
is now my privilege to introduce the winner of the Pleasantdale Middle 
School 2021 State rock election.
  Mr. Speaker, dolostone. I hope my colleagues in the Illinois 
delegation will join me in supporting the effort to make dolostone 
Illinois' State rock, but, more importantly, I couldn't be prouder to 
represent such great teachers and students committed to science and to 
democracy.

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