RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, the game of chess is intricate and intellectually demanding, requiring patience, strategic planning, the ability to anticipate and calculate possibilities, and the ability to adapt one's plans; and
WHEREAS, in two recent national chess competitions, students from Chicago's West Side won championships: Bobby Blankenship, an 11"1 grader at Marshall Metropolitan High School, was undefeated in the in the 2014 U.S. Chess Federation K-12 Chess Tournament April 3-6, after winning the Illinois state championship; and the Faraday Elementary School Chess Team of 8th graders Lamari Childs and Tiara Fearon won the national championship in the All Girls National Chess Tournament, Under 16 Years Section, April 11-13; and
WHEREAS, the City Council has been advised of this marvelous dual accomplishment by Alderman Jason Ervin ofthe 28th Ward; and
WHEREAS, the chess program was started at Marshall Metropolitan High School in 2005 by math teacher Joseph M. Ocol, who continues to guide and mentor the high school chess players; and
WHEREAS, Coach Ocol's program was expanded in 2010 when his students began to mentor students of Faraday Elementary School as part of a program called "Student Can Teach"; and
WHEREAS, the chess program at the two schools has taught the students more than the skills of a challenging game and has achieved even more than the two championships: the program has also instilled in them self-confidence and a desire to serve others by passing on their growing knowledge; and
WHEREAS, the training, the practice and the patience instilled in the students have also produced significant results in scholastic matters: assessment scores have risen at Faraday, where 50 students now participate in the chess program; and
WHEREAS, all Chicagoans should be proud of the accomplishments of the chess teams of Marshall Metropolitan High School and Faraday Elementary School; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED that we, the Mayor and members of the City Counci...
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