On Friday, April 24, 2020 we did not make our annual trip to the Florida Solar Energy Center/University of Central Florida. Normally we are there early in the morning (3 or 4am) to start the set up for our race the next day that is in conjunction with The Energy Whiz Expo. We were not able to meet (around 8am) with our extended family (Susan, Lillian and Kevin) from the FSEC to place the cones and pedestrian rails for our event. By noon we were not able to see our friends (front desk and housekeeping) at Days Inn, Cocoa Beach that take care of our lodging and breakfast. Teams were not able to arrive for Friday night’s dinner at Florida Seafood (their food is awesome) and no one sat beside the pool talking and relaxing or walking the beach.
On Saturday, April 25, 2020 we did not eat our continental breakfast or head to the track. The scoring tower was not set up, and teams did not arrive. This year 26 cars did not attend (wishful thinking) and they did not line up for the first race or ask our Race Steward, Mike Frederick “which way are we going”. Mike did not drop the green flag, cars did not have to pit for issues and no one’s batteries ran low. The checkered flag did not drop for teams to finish in first place for their class. Between races the pits were not busy with teams making adjustments to their cars for the second race. The food vendors were not sending the smell of their food all of the venue and students from all over were not visiting the various activities. Race Steward Mike Frederick did not call for the line up to start the second race and was not asked again, “which way are we going”. The second race did not start or end and there were no winners for the race day. We did not have our awards ceremony for the race and did not have our end of 2019 2020 Race Season recognitions and awards. We did not go back to our hotel and clean up for another great night with our ETO family members over dinner.
On Sunday, April 26, 2020 we did not have a continental breakfast or any long drives home.
We miss all of our ETO family and hope that everyone is safe and staying healthy.

Charlie

The tentative schedule for the 2020 – 2021 Race Season is posted under our remaining race seasons schedule.

Charlie

How many remember Zach Rogers from Plant City High Schools Electrathon Team?

Zach Rogers owns and operates Rogers Well Drilling. His crew has done work for Charlie and they are thorough and waste no time getting the job completed.

Electrathon of Tampa Bay / Electrathon of Florida welcomes Rogers Well Drilling to our list of Electrathon Racing Supporters.

On behalf of Electrathon of Tampa Bay / Electrathon of Florida we send greetings and prayers to everyone throughout the World. This is the time for all of us to unite in the prevention and cure of this virus that is still spreading around the world. May we all learn from this worldwide crisis and move forward in a positive manner.

Charlie

Please remember to cancel your hotel reservations for the Energy Whiz Event that was scheduled for April 25, 2020. According to Susan at FSEC most reservations have been cancelled. They have not been able to locate Jessica Parker to cancel her reservation as they are not familiar with the name or her role as a guest/event, team sponsor. We are posting this information to assist and support FSEC in their search for this individual.

Thanks

CONGRATULATIONS
Rodney Schreck of Tiger Racing has been traveling around the United States for close to 25 years to attend Electrathon races.
Some of you may know that Rodney wrote and had published his first book, Toby the Princess Warrior, A Fantasy Adventure. This week his book made it to Amazon Prime and Barnes and Noble. Buy your copy of his book and bring it to one of our races for him to autograph.

Florida public school campuses closed until April 15, state cancels all testing for K-12 schools.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida officials announced Tuesday they will eliminate testing requirements this spring for public-school students and extend the time in which kids will learn from home, as the state continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said testing requirements for school-readiness, voluntary pre-kindergarten and public-school programs will be canceled for the 2019-2020 school year.

“Requirements for graduation and promotion and final course grades will be evaluated as though those assessments did not exist,” the governor told reporters at a news conference.

Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran also said public schools will extend online learning until April 15. The state will re-evaluate after mid-April if kids should be allowed to go back to campuses, he added.

Most students are in extended spring breaks because of the coronavirus. Four school districts — Duval, Union, Collier and Sumter — have started to implement online learning as they wrap up extended spring breaks this week.

“It is essential that students do not fall behind and are still receiving instruction, even when they are not in the classroom,” Corcoran said in a statement after the news conference.

To ensure all students have access to online learning, DeSantis said school districts will be allowed to dip into “various” pots of unused state funds to help low-income students pay for computers and home-based internet services.

School districts will also be allowed to pay for “virtual” mental-health services for students impacted by the coronavirus, with the help of unspent funds lawmakers allocated for school safety and in-school mental health services, DeSantis said.

Florida Education Association President Fedrick Ingram told The News Service of Florida in a phone interview that he applauds the governor’s efforts to keep students from coming to school and to waive testing requirements.

Electrathon of Tampa Bay / Electrarhon of Florida, Executive Board has discussed the status of our pending 2019-2020 Race Season.

Electrathon races throughout the US have been cancelled for health reasons as a preventative measure of spreading the virus.

We agree that the health and well being of our students, members and community is the most important issue at this time.

We have cancelled the remaining 2019-2020 race season events.

We are looking forward to starting our 2020-2021 season in September 2020.

Charlie

We received word from Brian Copes in Alabama that the April 13, 2020 Barber Motorsports Electrathon Races have been cancelled. They wish everyone a safe and healthy year and look forward to seeing everyone in 2021.

Our Mulberry High School Electrathon Team Sponsor, Todd Thuma has been named the 2020 Distinguished Manufacturing Secondary Educator of the Year.

The honor is presented by the Florida Advanced Technological Education Center (FLATE), an organization “for manufacturing and advanced technical education, best practices and resources supporting the high performance skilled workforce for Florida’s manufacturing sectors.”

FLATE’s Distinguished Manufacturing Educator award recognizes outstanding teachers, and their work with local business partners to improve academic programs and keep programs closely tied to industry needs.

Todd Thuma is an engineering and technology teacher at Mulberry High. His programs emphasize manufacturing and robotics; he also sponsors the the school’s Technology Student Association Club and oversees MHS electric car racing program, Panther Racing.