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Congratulating the Idlewild Elementary School Chess Team Champions

Floor Speech

Date: May 29, 2025
Location: Washington, DC

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Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Idlewild Elementary School Chess Team champions, and their coach Mark Beatty, on their impressive run of successes this year. The 15-member team won the 2025 Henry D. Sabine State Scholastic Team Chess Tournament in both the kindergarten through third grade and kindergarten through fifth grade categories. The wins qualified them for a trip to Orlando, Florida, earlier this month to compete in the National Elementary Championship hosted by the U.S. Chess Federation. Beatty founded the Idlewild team in 2013. He also coached chess teams at Grahamwood Elementary, White Station Middle School and White Station High School where his teams have won 45 state team titles. Idlewood, my elementary school alma mater and the only school in Tennessee to receive the Top Magnet School of Excellence designation, also sent teams to the national chess tournaments in 2024 and 2023. This proud tradition puts Idlewild on a short list of the Nation's best elementary schools and its students deserve our encouragement and respect. They are certainly living up to their motto: ``Children First, Excellence Always!''

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