Putting their STEM expertise to the test, students in Julia Johnson’s EXCEL class at Islip Middle School competed in the tri-state National Engineers Week Future City Regional Competition on Jan. 18.

To prepare for the competition, the students worked since September to create a simulated city using SimCity software, wrote an abstract about their city and a research essay, created a scale model of their city using mostly recycled materials, and developed a seven-minute presentation of their city to present to a panel of judges. The Islip team placed first overall at the competition, which was held at the Sony Wonder Technology Museum in New York City, and will move on to the national competition held in Washington, D.C. in February. In addition to their overall win, the team won the Best Land Surveying Practices specialty award. 

The Future City competition is a national program sponsored by the engineering community to promote technological literacy and engineering to middle school students. The goal of the program is to foster an interest in math, science and engineering through hands-on, real-world applications.
According to the Future City website, by participating in the competition, “students will learn how math, science and engineering shape the infrastructure of the city around them. Students also learn life skills such as problem-solving, teamwork, research, written and verbal communication, computer literacy, and gain an increased awareness of community-related issues.”