Osceola K-8 Teacher honored

    Congratulations to Jennifer Ludwig of the new Westside K-8 School. She is one of 200 elementary school teachers from across the country who will be heading to the Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy to learn innovative new math and science teaching skills at three academies to be held this summer.

     The selection of the teachers from applications submitted at www.sendmyteacher.com marks the second year that teachers from all 50 states have been chosen to participate in the five-year-old professional development program.
     The academy is an intensive one-week, all-expense paid professional development program designed to provide teachers with innovative math and science teaching skills. The participants were selected by a panel of educators from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the National Science Teachers Association based on their qualifications, dedication to inspiring students at an early age and overall commitment to enhancing the teaching profession.
    “We’re excited to announce the selection of the teachers today and encouraged by the overwhelmingly positive response we have received from academy graduates,” said PGA golfer Phil Mickelson. “Working with ExxonMobil, we designed the academy to be an exciting learning experience that will provide more teachers with tools to inspire students in these critical areas.”
    In 2005, ExxonMobil partnered with Mickelson and his wife, Amy, the teachers association and Math Solutions to launch the program, which has hosted more than 2,000 teachers at one of the three annual academies, which will be held this summer in New Jersey, Texas and Louisiana.

Gaylord update on March 18

Gaylord Entertainment Company (NYSE: GET) announced that it will present to attendees of the 2010 J. P. Morgan Gaming, Lodging, Restaurant & Leisure Management Access Forum being held at the Encore at the Wynn in Las Vegas, Nevada on Thursday, March 18. Colin Reed, chairman and chief executive officer of Gaylord Entertainment, will communicate the Company's recent financial performance, growth objectives and business strategy. Gaylord Palms in Kissimmee is one of the company's property's.

FP&L links solar and natural gas

A promising approach to reducing the cost of solar power is moving forward with the construction of an installation in Indianatown that will combine a field of solar concentrators with a natural gas power plant. Read about it here.

New Soccer Franchise in 2011

  Orlando will have a professional franchise starting in 2011 in what the USL is calling a ‘re-established’ first division USL, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
   The team will be owned and operated by the Orlando Titans (the indoor lacrosse team in town) and has not had a name or location announced yet. The home stadium is expected to be announced soon as they are still exploring options.
   According to the press release, the club hopes to announce a partnership with a European club in the future and is hoping to bring major international exhibitions to the Central Florida area.
   So what do you think Central Florida?

OUC goes solar.

Orlando's electric utility has selected a Florida company to build what will stand, for a short while at least, as one of the nation's largest assemblies of solar panels.

Regenesis Power outlasted nearly 30 competitors to be selected late last month by the Orlando Utilities Commission as the preferred vendor for the project. The company recently installed a large solar-energy system at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, the company's home city.

OUC's governing board is expected next Tuesday to authorize the utility's managers to negotiate and sign a contract with Regenesis that spells out the final details of the Orlando system's size, cost and performance.

Full story.

Pro Soccer in Central Fla?

Orlando Sentinel Soccer Blog says that professional futbol may be coming to Central Florida! Of course for all the fans of the sport, pro-level leagues have struggled over the years. Used to love those Tampa Bay Rowdies!

Travelocity Founder Speaking at Kissimmee Tradeshow

   Terry Jones, the founder of Travelocity, is the keynote speaker this year AirCargo 2010, the premier conference and trade show for the airfreight forwarding and express delivery/logistics industries that will be held March 14-16 at the Omni ChampionsGate Resort.

   Over 800 attendees and 100 exhibitors and sponsors will come together to network and take part in important educational meetings covering topics such as successful marketing techniques, compliance issues in managing domestic and global supply chains and what to expect for our industry with the quickly increasing percentages of screening requirements.

   Other key industry leaders presenting this year include Brian Clancy of Merge Global, Neil Lenok of the World Academy and Bob Reilly of the GovPro Alliance.

    Specific discussions include:

'Chessie' presents at Kissimmee Conference

Chesapeake System Solutions Inc. (www.chessys.com), a provider of integrated financial governance, risk management and compliance software solutions to the world’s foremost enterprises, announced at the BAI Payments Connect Conference & Expo in Kissimmee that it has integratedA2iA CheckReader™, a comprehensive check-processing toolkit, into its T-Recs® Enterprise reconciliation system to offer advanced bank account reconciliation and positive pay functionality.