Middle Schoolers Vie to Create Virtual City
Heritage Middle School students to participate in a regional competition that promotes interest in STEM.
Students from Heritage Middle School will participate in the regional finals of the 19th annual National Engineers Week Foundation’s 2011-12 Future City® Competition at Rutgers University Livingston Campus Student Center on Saturday, Jan. 14 from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Now in its fifth year, the competition encourages middle-schoolers nationwide to develop their interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) by designing, developing and creating a future city. Students work in teams of three and compete with other teams from across the state.
The Heritage team consists of approximately 20 girls in grades 6th through 8th. This is the third year Heritage students have participated in the competition.
This year, the theme is Fuel Your Future: Imagine New Ways to Meet Our Energy Needs and Maintain a Healthy Planet. Students were asked to design a method of providing electricity for a future city using an energy source that does not deplete natural resources and has limited impact on the environment. Participants used SimCity™ 4 Deluxe software to design a virtual Future City model incorporating their ideas. Then they built a physical model using recycled materials (which can cost no more than $100 to build). Additionally, students submitted an essay describing their city.
On competition day, students will introduce their future city to judges and defend the viability of their city. The regional winning team will go to Washington, DC next month to participate in the national competition. The winning team of the national competition gets to go to the U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville, AL.
“We are always so amazed at the amount of work, attention to detail and level of sophistication that go into these projects,” said Leslie Collins, Executive Director, National Engineers Week Foundation. “These middle schoolers are both incredibly creative and extremely committed. We look forward to seeing what they have come up with this year.”
The competition is expected to draw more than 35,000 students from 1,300 middle schools across the country.
