A Message From FES President Kelly Cranford
Hello FES Members,
Welcome to the start of Florida’s rainy season. Make sure your generators work, keep your gas tanks at least half full, and stock up on the rest of your “camping in your house” (aka hurricane season) supplies.
It was beautiful weather as we held our annual planning session and board meeting in Amelia Island a few weeks ago. I hope you have registered for our Annual Conference in Marco Island from July 26 through July 29. There is still room for more attendees (and sponsors).
Congratulations to Team Florida, who took second place in the national Mathcounts competition, especially to Ashvin Sinha, who placed second in the written round and was a semifinalist in the countdown round. Your support of the MATHCOUNTS program in Florida made the school, regional, and state competitions leading up to this Florida win possible.
This past legislative session was mostly a win for professional engineers, although we had a little setback in the qualification-based selection of design professionals. The good news is that engineers are in the “room where it happens” more now than we have been in the recent past. Your donations to FEPAC help our advocacy for professional engineers in Florida.
I want to congratulate our very own John Carroll, PE (Indian River State Director), who was elected to the Vero Beach City Council. Do we have other members who hold elected offices? Let us know so we can recognize you as well.
We recently celebrated Memorial Day. Many of my family and childhood friends served, and some continue to serve in the military, protecting our freedom. Thanks to the current military and those who came before, the most threatened I ever felt as a youngster was when my hometown was on the top 10 list for targets during the “cold war.” Compare that to the childhoods of past-President Carlos Penin in Cuba and incoming President Ron Colas in Haiti.
We grew up close together geographically but were worlds apart in terms of security and freedom – yet we all found our way to become engineers and officers in the Florida Engineering Society simultaneously. Our differences and commonalities have resulted in one of the strongest boards we have had in a long time. Great things take time, and we have many exciting items in progress. Stay tuned.
Watch FBPE.org for an announcement in the next month regarding changes to the reporting requirements for continuing education credits for the next renewal year (2025). Each professional engineer must submit documentation of their continuing education classes rather than only those selected for an audit.
It is almost the start of hurricane season, Flag Day (my parent’s 60th anniversary), Father’s Day, and my 49th birthday (again). Join me in celebrating our great state of Florida – take a walk outside and enjoy nature and our beautiful cities.
Don’t forget to share photos of your chapter meetings, socials, and other events with us for our “Out & About” section of our new publication – Engineering Florida. Please email them to sbutler@fleng.org
Until next month – take a few deep breaths with me, watch a sunset, and enjoy those around you.
Kelly Cranford, PE, ENV SP, FES Fellow
Culpepper and Terpening, Inc. | Principal Project Manager
(772) 485-1334 – kellyecranford@gmail.com
