PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

It’s hard to believe that another year has come and gone. It looks like 2005 will be another busy year for us all. I hope everyone included “attending more FES dinner meetings and society events” in their New Year’s resolutions. I think that this spring will provide many good opportunities to do so. I am looking forward to our spring outdoors event. Last year we had a family friendly FES gathering out at Panther Island Mitigation Bank, and the planning for another such event is under way. The last few years the EI vs. PE softball tournament has dropped in attendance, so we are busy planning another family friendly event to replace that one as well. We have Mathcounts and the Engineer’s Week Banquet coming up, which should be fun and provide opportunities to be involved in FES.

In January we had the first ever regional FES Conference. The conference was FES Region VI Conference, "Eye on Engineering", January 13th, in Port Charlotte. The conference focused on the effects of the past hurricane season on the infrastructure of our area, particularly the Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda area, including a very interesting portion on the devastation to the Charlotte County School System. The conference was well done and informative/interesting. Our thanks to Clay Tappan, our FES Region IV Vice President for all of the hard work in organizing the event.

Our next big event will be the Mathcounts Competition on February 12th. This competition helps promote math with our local middle school and high school students, in hopes that would encourage the participants to pursue a degree in engineering. This competition has grown tremendously in size, with around 200 local students. Volunteers are still needed to help make our local Mathcounts competition happen. If you are interested in taking an active role in helping prepare for the event, so if you are interested in volunteering on the day of the competition, please contact me, or our Mathcounts Co-Chairs Elizabeth Fountain, PE or Rebecca King, EI. They would appreciate all the help they can get.

Following the Mathcounts Competition, we will be having our Engineer’s Week Banquet on February 24th. The event will be held at Germain Arena, which is a centrally located venue, and our guest speaker will be Dr. Susan Blanchard, the Founding Director of the newly established engineering degree program at FGCU. I hope that you will come out to celebrate being in the engineering profession, and to hear about the future of engineering education in our area.

On a final note, I regret to inform you that our current FES Calusa Chapter Secretary, Pat Jennings, PE, is going to relocate to Tennessee, and therefore will be leaving his position with FES. Pat has put in many hours and served our local chapter well in the past years. The part of our business that I dislike the most is seeing good people come and go. Pat is a good person and a good engineer, and I hate to see him go. Please join me in wishing him well in his future endeavors.

Thank you, and I look forward to seeing you at Mathcounts and at the Engineer’s Week Banquet.

John English, PE
President - Calusa Chapter

Save That Date!

FES Engineers' Week Banquet

Thursday, February 24th

Germain Arena, Estero, FL
6:00 PM

Scroll down for more details.

FES Engineer’s Week Banquet

Speaker
Dr. Susan M. Blanchard
Professor and Founding Director of the School of Engineering
Florida Gulf Coast University

Thursday, February 24th, 2005
Germain Arena
Ben Hill Griffin Parkway
Estero, FL

Social Hour at 6:00PM — Dinner at 7:00PM
Program Immediately Following Dinner

As Always, Spouses and Guests Are Welcome!
$40.00 Per Person

Hickory smoked Ham
Roasted prime Rib
Fresh garden tosses salad with three dressings
Garlic mashed red potatoes
Italian mixed vegetables
Bread rolls & butter
Moist and delicious cake squares

Call (985-1200), fax (985-1258) or email your RSVP to David Romano, PE by 12 noon on February 22 (davidromano@holemontes.com). The meeting space is reserved and meals are prepared based on advance registration. The Calusa Chapter is contractually obligated to pay for all meals prepared based on advance registration. Therefore, unless you cancel your reservation by noon the day before the meeting, you are responsible for the fee, regardless of whether you actually attend the meeting.

________________________________________
YES, I will be attending.
(Name)

________________________________________
Spouse/Guest
(Name)

Welcome New
Calusa Chapter Members

UPCOMING ACTIVITIES CALENDAR

Members are encouraged to contact David Romano, PE at (239) 985-1200 or email: davidromano@holemontes.com to request additional information or to suggest a future program or event.