 A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
Terrance N. Glunt, P.E.
Broward Chapter President, 2002/2003
After a full weekend of MathCounts, I find it very difficult to try to inspire you with any words of wisdom when it was 100 plus middle school students that have just inspired me with their knowledge, competitive fervor, team support, camaraderie and pure emotion at our annual MathCounts competition. These kids were just incredible. Some of these young men and women were so talented, that it scared me to think of my own mathematical shortcomings. And although the competition was keen and sometimes hard, it was done honestly and without any disdain for each other. As a proctor, I did not witness one incident of potential cheating. And there was such camaraderie and friendship displayed among all of the students that it made you wish that it could carry over into society, or at least into our profession. With such an emphasis on ethics in the engineering profession as of late, we could all learn a lesson from these kids.
If you couldn’t tell by now, I have just finished my first ever volunteer assignment for a MathCounts competition. What was I waiting for? Of all of the volunteer activities in which I have ever participated, this was possibly the most worthy and rewarding. For those of you who have never helped at a local MathCounts competition, I would highly recommend doing it next year. For just seven hours of your time, you get to witness and participate in one of life’s little dramas, sometimes traumatic, always emotional and most of the time joyously heartwarming. You are not just witnessing the next generation of engineers, but the future of our world. Among these sixth, seventh and eighth graders are future designers, inventors, politicians, business owners, government administrators and leaders in all walks of life. But most importantly, a great number of these young men and women will become tremendous parents and mentors, giving of their time, passing on their knowledge and supporting the youth of their age to the next generation of engineers for the betterment of the world.
So in some aspects, this is our legacy. To teach our youth what is important in life in order to be successful. Success is not measured solely by how well our business is doing or how much our firms have grown. As much as we are obligated to mentor these children to become responsible engineers and business leaders, we are even more obligated to make sure that they become responsible, caring adults. If your children and students are responsible for the success of even one pupil becoming a good engineer and human being, then your life has been a success. And if each member of FES, and for that matter, every other engineering society, lives their lives with the same regard, then our legacy will be forged for us. Go to a MathCounts competition and you will see that children really can teach us a few things.
Maybe we should take a lesson from them.
Thank you all.
Terrance N. Glunt, P.E., President
Broward Chapter
Florida Engineering Society
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