SENATE MEMORIAL 62

53rd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2017

INTRODUCED BY

Jacob R. Candelaria

A MEMORIAL

DECLARING FEBRUARY 10, 2017 "CHESS SERVICE DAY" IN THE SENATE.

     WHEREAS, countless studies show that learning the game of chess serves to improve student outcomes in math and reading scores, overall cognitive ability and executive functioning skills; and

     WHEREAS, learners chess academy, a New Mexico nonprofit organization founded in 2010, has developed after-school chess clubs in more than fifty schools over the last six years and has taught thousands of children how to play chess in the after-school programs and summer camps; and

     WHEREAS, learners chess academy has initiated a new program called learners without borders with the objective to send youth ambassadors to a foreign country to teach chess to children in communities without sufficient resources; and

     WHEREAS, in the summer of 2016, the first learners without borders program sent two Albuquerque eleventh graders to the small community of Amando Lopez in the Bajo Lempa region of El Salvador; and

     WHEREAS, learners without borders volunteers John Bennett and Jeremy Wesevich lived with host families and taught chess to thirty-six youths for ten days; and

     WHEREAS, John Bennett and Jeremy Wesevich served as youth ambassadors, educators and mentors to the chess students they taught; and

     WHEREAS, the community of Amando Lopez now has a regular chess club that meets twice a week where young people and adults gather and practice chess; and

     WHEREAS, Victor Lopez, Jack West and Roddy Hughes were instrumental in facilitating the first-ever learners without borders excursion;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the numerous intellectual, social and leadership skill development benefits of the game of chess be recognized; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that February 10, 2017 be declared "Chess Service Day" in the senate and that recognition be given to the people involved in the chess service trip as ambassadors, mentors and upstanding representatives of New Mexico; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the president of learners chess academy and to participants of learners without borders.

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