[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Page 8215]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           RECOGNIZING THE MACOMB ACADEMY OF ARTS & SCIENCES

  Mr. LEVIN. Madam President, a few weeks ago I met a remarkable group 
of young people. They call themselves the Fighting Pi, and they are the 
FIRST Robotics Competition team from the Macomb Academy of Arts & 
Sciences in Armada, MI.
  FIRST is an annual, international robotics competition for high 
school students. Teams have 6 weeks to design, build, and test robots 
to compete in a game, which changes every year. For this year, teams 
competed in the ``Rebound Rumble,'' which required them to design 
robots capable of shooting small basketballs into baskets as high as 8 
feet off the ground.
  This competition demands many things of its teams. They must 
demonstrate the ability to plan and work together, to follow a budget, 
and to meet demanding timelines. They must master complex technical 
fields such as computer-assisted drafting, electrical engineering, 
radio control systems, pneumatic systems, and sensors and signals. So 
the intellectual demands are great.
  But just as great is the demand for vision for the foresight to look 
at a stack of diagrams and a pile of electronic parts and see what it 
can all become.
  Thirty-six teams from Michigan traveled in April to St. Louis for the 
national championship, the Fighting Pi among them. Representing 
Michigan were three teams from Bloomfield Hills, two from Detroit, two 
from Ann Arbor, two from Grandville, two from Pontiac, and teams from 
Allen Park, Auburn Hills, Berkley, Birmingham, Clarkston, Fremont, 
Holland, Hopkins, Lansing, Milford, Niles, North Oakland County, 
Northville, Novi, Okemos, Ortonville, Richmond, Rochester Hills, 
Sterling Heights, Temperance, Waterford, and Zeeland. All of them have 
reason to be proud of their accomplishments.
  But I want to especially thank the Fighting Pi, whose members and 
adult leaders were kind enough to spend an hour with me a few days ago. 
At the Michigan State Championships, the Fighting Pi had won the 
prestigious State Engineering Inspiration Award. I was deeply impressed 
by the vision, enthusiasm, and brainpower of the Fighting Pi during my 
visit. They demonstrated to me their robot design, and they let me 
drive a robot around a little. They helped me understand the technical 
aspects of their work and the intense planning and preparation and 
staying power required.
  In addition to their robotics responsibilities, team members 
participate in public service. Team members volunteer regularly at 
Ronald McDonald House, where they help the families of ill or injured 
children. They participate in local adopt-a-road and adopt-a-trail 
cleanup programs. And they have raised money for St. Jude's Children's 
Research Hospital and Toys for Tots among other worthy charities. They 
are, in their schoolwork, their robotics work, and their volunteer 
work, exceptional young people.
  Americans spend a lot of time worrying about the next generation. We 
worry over our dinner tables, in our conversations at work, and in this 
very Chamber. There are plenty of reasons to worry. But we should not 
lose sight of the reasons for optimism. Every day, all over this great 
country, young people are accomplishing extraordinary things. They are 
studying hard, learning new skills, and even building sophisticated 
robots. They are preparing to write the next chapter in the American 
story, and I have no doubt it will be as stirring as the story so far.
  So let me extend my congratulations and my gratitude to the students 
of the Fighting Pi, and the students who helped them on their way: team 
members Michael Graham, Melissa Mikolowski, Nicholas Fitzsimons, Eric 
Bytner, Trevor Goolsby, Alysa Brice, Zeke Fetty, Michael Scaglione, 
Steven Scaglione, Stephen Kline, Kurt Wieber, Andrew Graham, Amanda 
Fulghum, Michael Patrick, Laurel Payne, Collin Tobey, Riley Yaxley, 
Eric Tobey, Jack Sabelhaus, Andrew Binkowski, Lauren Grobbel, Alex 
Kesek, Sabrina Tibaudo, Ron Kyllonen, Vince Ragap, Rachel Kosek and 
Krystal Diel; and adults Craig Roys, Tom Line, Richard Wahl, Craig 
Tobey, Shawn Graham, Judy Tobey, Michael Mroz, Andrea Mroz, Paul 
Gianferrara, John Antilla, Jacob Caporuscio, and Eric Kosek.

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