A Message From FES President Ronald Colas
Dear fellow FES members,
As I reflect on the past month and the celebration of Earth Day, I wanted to discuss with you all the importance of taking the time to evaluate our current practices and how we can improve upon them.
Earth Day is a reminder that how we treat our planet matters. How does that affect our work? As Engineers, the choices we make while designing, building, and manufacturing have a much larger potential footprint than those of the average citizen. The materials and processes we use have the potential to impact the Earth in positive or negative ways.
Making sure to incorporate resiliency and sustainability into our practices goes back to our goal of catching up with emerging technologies and shaping what future cities will look like with new innovations.
I implore you to future-proof our cities and our planet by considering methods that reduce your carbon footprint or aim for carbon neutrality, minimize the impacts of climate change, and utilize clean energy sources, among other goals.
Together, we can positively impact the Earth for ourselves, our children, grandchildren, and future generations.
Speaking of the future of our children and the next generation:
Last month, I attended our Florida MATHCOUNTS® State competition, and I want to thank our sponsors who made it possible. I also thank our Committee Chair and Vice Chair, committee members, and FES Staff who worked hard to make the competition a success and a wonderful experience for our Mathletes®.
I had the opportunity to make some opening remarks to welcome our Mathletes with some math-related jokes. I will share a couple of them with you to solve on your own…
- Why did the mathlete bring a ladder to the MATHCOUNTS® Competition?
- Why did the student think the MATHCOUNTS® target round was a romantic event?Click here for the answers
Congratulations to the four middle school students and their coach who will represent Florida while joining the nation’s highest-achieving math students on May 12-13, 2024, in the national MATHCOUNTS® competition in Washington, D.C.:
- Benjamin Jiang, Pine View Middle School, Osprey
- George Paret, Abraham Lincoln Middle School, Gainesville
- Daniel Li, Ransom Everglades Middle School, Miami
- Daniel Wei, Abraham Lincoln Middle School, Gainesville
- COACH: Jessica Merrick, Ransom Everglades Middle School, Miami
Planning for the Orientation and Transition and Annual Conference:
We are having our next board meeting in Fort Myers on May 2-4, and we will also have our 2025 planning and board orientation meeting as I will be planning my transition to the past president at the next FES | ACEC Florida Annual Conference at the JW Marriot Turnberry in Miami, July 24-27, 2024. This will allow me the opportunity to reflect on our accomplishments and the growth challenges that we are still facing as an organization. Please register early and reserve your hotel room for the conference as soon as possible.
Ronald M. Colas, P.E. S.I., FES Fellow | Jacobs | Vice President
FLPR Transportation Strategic Growth and Business Development Manager
Ronald.Colas@jacobs.com
