Published: May 20, 2008 07:00 pm            

Local groups honored by state senate

One of the most enjoyable official responsibilities I have as your state senator is the opportunity to honor outstanding citizens from home who’ve helped make a positive difference in our communities and our state.  I had that opportunity this past week and it was a great pleasure to share the accomplishments of these individuals with the State Senate.

“For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology,” also known as FIRST, was founded by Dean Kamen, the inventor of the Segway personal transporter and other devices. 

The purpose of FIRST is to inspire our young people to be science and technology leaders by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs.  More than 1,500 teams from the United States and seven other nations competed in the FIRST Robotics competition.  Selected students from Ada, Byng, Latta, Stratford, Tishomingo and Vanoss high schools made up one of these teams, calling themselves Metal Mayhem. 

Sponsored by the Chickasaw Nation and the Pontotoc Technology Center, Metal Mayhem completed a six-week robotics project that involved designing and building a robot, creating a website, participating in community service projects, creating team publicity, and competing in the FIRST Robotics regional and national competitions.  As a result of their work, the group won both the regional Rookie All Star Award and the National Rookie All Star Award Championship.  They were praised for their community service projects which included promoting the Chickasaw language, cleaning up graffiti, collecting money for “Tunes 4 the Troops,” promoting fitness at Head Start centers, and adopting a local highway to clean up.  What an inspiration to us all!

It was my great pleasure to author a measure praising Dr. Jeanie Nelson.  She is retiring after 34 years with The Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training (CLEET), including serving as director for the past 10 years.  Ada’s K.O. Rayburn Training Center represents the completion of a dream by Dr. Nelson and previous CLEET directors and is one of the finest law enforcement training facilities in the entire country.  She was the first woman in the United States ever appointed as director of a peace officer standards and training agency, and has devoted her life to the promotion and education of law enforcement officers.  Dr. Nelson has helped make our communities and our state safer for us all, and I am very grateful for her service and dedication.  I wish her a wonderful retirement and I hope you will take the opportunity to thank her for her service, too.

As always if you have a question about a legislative matter, please do not hesitate to contact my office at (405) 521-5541 or by email at paddack@oksenate.gov.  May God Bless you.

        

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