Scholarships

 

On May 15, 2010 Simmons & White, Inc. held our 12^th Annual Kingfish-Dolphin-Wahoo (KDW) Fishing Tournament and Fish Fry. This was the eighth year that Simmons & White’s fishing tournament was formatted as a fundraiser for the Florida Engineering Society (FES) Palm Beach Chapter’s scholarship fund. Thanks to the generosity of tournament sponsors, we were able to present a check for over $7,000 for their use in awarding scholarships to area high school and college students pursuing degrees in engineering.

 

There have been quite a few stories and tall tales told about the tournament over the past 12 years, and even more lessons that have been learned. Word got out very quickly of our family-friendly, social event (without the pressure and intimidations of typical big money tournaments). In very short order the guest list expanded exponentially from the staff at Simmons & White and a few clients who we knew were avid sport fishermen to land-use attorneys, planners, architects, developers, governing agency officials and a number of other engineers from competing firms.

 

Simmons & White, Inc. has always been a strong supporter of FES and community service. We encourage active participation by staff in the organization and promote a culture of giving back to the profession. After the first four years of steadily increasing in size and popularity, we decided to format our tournament to be a fundraiser for the FES scholarship fund. The Palm Beach Chapter has historically distributed almost $4,000 annually in scholarships, funded mainly from the Chapter’s golf tournament. Our goal was to match the Chapter’s allocation and allow the scholarship committee to provide a substantial distribution to all the young students who applied. Our fifth tournament in 2003 exceeded our goals and raised $5,000. The tournament was a true success by every measure and set the standard for the future.

 

Since the event was formatted to benefit the Scholarship Fund, we have raised over $50,000 for our local Chapter to use in awarding scholarships. It is a great honor for us to contribute to the education of our future engineers. Even in the current economy and down-turn that our industry has taken, we were still able to raise over $7,000 this year alone. It is the continued support of our sponsors which makes this possible. A total of 33 boats registered for entry in this year’s tournament and over 200 people attended the fish fry and pool party. The overall tournament winner was a 34.5 pound dolphin on the boat Mobil One by Andrew Nixon and crew from Ardaman & Associates. “This event is a great time for all and it’s even better that it allows all of us to give something back to our community,” Andrew said.

 

The tournament has become the perfect excuse for the engineering community to come together and enjoy a morning of fishing and an afternoon of socializing and picnicking. Once again local planner Kevin McGinley and his band, the Saildogs, provided the live music, and a local event caterer did all the cooking. The early days of the firm partners and staff cleaning and frying the fish that were caught in the tournament are long gone. (That tradition was modified after the third tournament, when rough seas limited the catch.  We had to run to the local fish market to feed everyone).

 

In 2008, the 10^th annual event raised the most money in the history of the event, totaling $10,250. This year, the Chapter awarded 13 scholarships totaling $12,000 to local high school and college students who have chosen engineering as their major course of study. We look forward to continuing this great tradition and giving back to the future of engineering in our community.