USC Aiken’s Ruth Patrick Science Education Center and Washington Savannah River Company Co-Sponsor South Carolina Regional Future City Competition
Students from Cardinal Newman School in Columbia, S.C. received first place recognition at the 2008 South Carolina Regional Future City Competition, sponsored by Washington Savannah River Company and the University of South Carolina Aiken’s Ruth Patrick Science Education Center (RPSEC). The competition, which each year invites 7 th and 8 th graders to create a city of tomorrow, was held on January 26 on the USC Aiken campus.
This year’s winning team created the futuristic city, Polaris Arctic Circle, and included Matthew Bracey, Pascale Rocca, and Lisa Wiesenberger, 8 th graders at Cardinal Newman School, along with Mary Burts, 7 th grade life science teacher and faculty sponsor of the Future City Team, and Engineer Mentor Pat Curry. Bracey, a Columbia resident, is the son of Jeffrey and Linda Bracey. Rocca, who now resides in Columbia, is a native of Canada and the daughter of Pasquale and Colette Rocca. Wiesenberger, also a Columbia native, is the daughter of Juergen and Alexa Wiesenberger.
In addition to a $1,000 USC Aiken scholarship sponsored by AT&T , students on the winning team will receive a trip to the 16 th Annual Future City National Finals in Washington, D.C., to be held Feb. 18-20 during Engineers Week. Team members were also awarded $75 each, luggage, a trophy, and medallions.
“At AT&T, we are excited to see what these students have accomplished during the Future City Competition,” said William P. (Pat) Patton, AT&T regional director in the Aiken area.
“When we examine the results of the competition, we are encouraged by the fact that our future is indeed in the hands of such capable young minds. The Aiken area team of AT&T employees is proud to reward such outstanding innovation and creativity.”
Future City , now in its 16 th year, challenges middle school students to develop futuristic urban designs, first on computers and then in large table-top models. Working in teams with a teacher and volunteer engineer mentor, students created their cities using the SimCity 3000™ videogame donated to all participating schools by Electronic Arts, Inc. of Redwood City, Calif. From that design, students built the table-top models using recycled materials with a budget of less than $100. Participants then wrote a city abstract and essay on using engineering to solve an important social need. This year's theme asked students to describe how nanotechnology will monitor their city’s structures and systems to keep its infrastructure healthy. At the competition, teams presented and defended their designs before a panel of engineer judges.
Sponsored by the nation’s professional engineering community, Future City is the nation’s largest engineering education program, encouraging interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics through hands-on applications. The program reaches more than 30,000 students in 1,100 schools across the country. The competition encourages students to draw on resources such as the latest research in scientific papers and even interviews with top experts from around the globe.
According to Future City National Director Carol Rieg, “ Future City exposes young people to engineering, which they interpret as a pathway to the world of possibilities. These young minds see a boundless future. The competition shows them that engineering is the way to get there.”
Future City Competitions were held in January in 40 regions across the country. National grand prize is a trip to U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala.
For more information, contact John Hutchens, RPSEC director, traveling science and mathematics demonstrations program, at 803-641-3474 or JohnH@usca.edu.
Photograph Attached: (from left to right)–Matthew Bracey, Future City team member; Mary Burts, faculty sponsor of the Future City Team ; Pascale Rocca, Future City team member; Lisa Wiesenberger, Future City team member; and Pat Patton, AT&T regional director - Aiken region of South Carolina.
