State Senator Tom O’Mara, Assemblyman Phil Palmesano, and Assemblyman Chris Friend recently recognized the achievements of GorillaBots Team 5485, a high school robotics team from the Southern Tier. The team was honored for its performance at both the NY Excelsior FIRST Tech Challenge Regional Championship and the FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship held earlier this year.
GorillaBots Team 5485 is one of three teams under Corning Robotics, which is sponsored by Corning, Inc. The 14-member group includes students from Corning-Painted Post, Elmira, and Horseheads high schools. In addition to their competition success, the team has contributed over 800 hours to community service projects such as working with the Science & Discovery Center in Corning, volunteering at summer camps, mentoring middle school robotics teams, and distributing science kits at local events.
In March, GorillaBots Team 5485 won first place at the NY EX FIRST Tech Challenge Region Championship at Mohawk Valley Community College in Utica. This victory qualified them for the world championship event in Houston, Texas in April. At that competition, they secured first place in the Ochoa Division and currently hold a ranking of 26th out of more than 8,800 teams worldwide.
On Friday night, O’Mara, Palmesano, and Friend met with team members and their supporters at the team’s headquarters in Horseheads to present an official Legislative Resolution (J941/K423). This resolution honors their accomplishments at state, national, and international levels and was approved by both chambers of the state legislature in May.
In a joint statement issued by O’Mara, Palmesano, and Friend: “GorillaBots Team 5485 brings together some of this region’s best and brightest students who are highly successful as a robotics team and do outstanding work mentoring younger students, volunteering in a variety of ways, and promoting STEM throughout area communities. It’s been a memorable year for GorillaBots RoboticsTeam 5485. The team has had amazing success throughout the past year. Their commitment, creativity, enthusiasm, expertise, and vision stood out this year in prestigious competitions against local, state, national, and international teams. We are very proud to recognize their achievements. These students, and their coaches and mentors stand as a true testament to excellence. We’re also proud to recognize the incredible support the team receives from their families area communities and Corning Incorporated. We appreciate and welcome these opportunities to honor success throughout our schools. They represent inspiring stories promising futures and enormous pride for our entire region.”
The legislative resolution also acknowledges coaches Lauren Chang, Michael Nishimoto, Mark Joiner; as well as student members Jacob Chung; Lydia Chung; Andrew Clark; Kaeden Martinez; Aidan McGroarty; Niyati Sharma; Aditya Aiyar; Miroslav Goral; Sriram Aravelli; Frank Chen; Mark Mendez; Jennifer Yu; Matthew Han; Caylee Hinman.
Part of the resolution states: “Individual and team championships are vital in healthy competition among our students. This Legislative Body commends rare achievements and pays special recognition to those who pursue such excellence and become examples for the youth of this great Empire State.”
