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State of Arkansas 1
95th General Assembly 2
Regular Session, 2025 SR 66 3
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By: Senator B. Davis 5
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SENATE RESOLUTION 8
TO RECOGNIZE THE ARKANSAS TECH UNIVERSITY ROBOTICS 9
CLUB FOR WINNING THE TOURNAMENT CHAMPION AND INNOVATE 10
AWARDS AT THE 2025 TEXAS STATE VEX U TOURNAMENT. 11
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Subtitle 14
TO RECOGNIZE THE ARKANSAS TECH 15
UNIVERSITY ROBOTICS CLUB FOR WINNING THE 16
TOURNAMENT CHAMPION AND INNOVATE AWARDS 17
AT THE 2025 TEXAS STATE VEX U 18
TOURNAMENT. 19
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WHEREAS, the Robotics Club of Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, 21
Arkansas, earned the Tournament Champion and Innovate Awards at the 2025 22
Texas State VEX U Tournament held at the Clear Creek Independent School 23
District Robotics Event Center in Houston, Texas, on February 21 -22, 2025; 24
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WHEREAS, out of fifteen (15) competing teams, only two (2) other teams 27
won multiple awards at the tournament; and 28
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WHEREAS, the Arkansas Tech University Robotics Club fabricated some 30
components using an on -campus shop and also three-dimensional printers, and 31
they had to program the robot for an autonomous portion of the tournament; 32
and 33
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WHEREAS, the Innovate Award recognizes an effective and well -documented 35
design process for a novel aspect of a team's robot design or gameplay 36 SR66
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strategy, and the submission of an Engineering Notebook thoroughly 1
documenting the development of this unique attribute is a requirement; and 2
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WHEREAS, based upon its performance at the tournament, the Arkansas 4
Tech University Robotics Club has qualified for its third consecutive 5
invitation to compete in the VEX U World Championship, and this is one (1) of 6
only twenty-four (24) automatic invitations awarded to United States -based 7
universities for this competition; and 8
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WHEREAS, last year, the Arkansas Tech University Robotics Club advanced 10
through the qualification stage to reach the elimination round at the VEX U 11
Robotics World Championship and completed the 2023 -2024 robotics season with 12
a top four (4) global skills ranking; and 13
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WHEREAS, members of the 2024 -2025 Arkansas Tech University Robotics 15
Club are club president Hunter Mathis of Hope, club vice president Juan Leon 16
of Hope, club secretary Braden Pierce of Bryant, club treasurer Ryan 17
Nanthalangsy of Sheridan, club outreach director Everett Otis of Conway, 18
Brady Bray of Greenwood, Preston Diehl of Conway, Jason "Collin" Easterling 19
of Hope, Brandon Gallegos of Hope, Bo Allen Huey of Conway, Kavin Kannangara 20
of Bentonville, Judit Morales -Mora of Russellville, Brody Peterson of 21
Bentonville, Raul Hurtado of Conway, and Cooper Stober of Bentonville; and 22
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WHEREAS, club president Hunter Mathis stated of the team, "This year's 24
team is comprised of both upper and lower classmen who have dedicated 25
countless hours to building, programming, and piloting the most competitive 26
robots ATU has ever produced. This year alone, the ATU Robotics Club members 27
have invested over 10,000 total hours towards our success"; and 28
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WHEREAS, the team was led by club sponsor Jacob Weidenfeller of 30
Harrison and club cosponsor Steve Ward of Dover, 31
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NOW THEREFORE, 33
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY -FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE 34
STATE OF ARKANSAS: 35
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THAT the Senate recognize the Arkansas Tech University Robotics Club 1
for winning the Tournament Champion and Innovate Awards at the 2025 Texas 2
State VEX U Tournament. 3
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BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT upon adoption, a copy of this resolution be 5
presented to club sponsor Jacob Weidenfeller by the Secretary of the Senate. 6
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