Middle school students will face tough tasks of building, running cities

Thursday, Aug. 3, 2000 | 9:09 a.m.

Local seventh and eighth graders can learn the rigors of building and operating a city along with important lessons in math, science, engineering, design, civics and teamwork through the 2001 National Engineers Week Future City Competition.

Students design a city of the future using the computer game SimCity 2000 in this ninth-annual competition. They then re-create a section of their plans in a three-dimensional model made of recycled materials, spending less than $100.

Students defend their future city at the competition before a panel of engineers and submit an engineering-related essay.

Teams of three students are joined by a teacher and a volunteer engineer mentor from the community, who are assigned at the beginning of the school year.

Most of the students' time is spent trying to solve the daily dilemmas engineers and civic planners face, including issues of traffic, pollution and the environment, employment, education and crime.

Nevada schools will compete in regional finals on Jan. 27 at the Clark County Government Center. The winning regional team receives a trip to Washington, D.C., for the national competition held Feb. 20 and 21. The top team at nationals wins a trip to U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala.

Future City national coordinator Carol Rieg notes about one-third of the regional coordinators are women and five of the 26 coordinators are black, who can serve as strong role models for girls and minority students.

The National Engineers Week Future City Competition began with five sites in 1993. In 1999-2000, 19 regions -- with more than 800 schools and 18,000 students -- participated. Twenty-six sites are scheduled to host this year's upcoming competition.

Sandy Valley Middle School won last year's Las Vegas area competition. The team went on to place fourth overall in the regional competition in Phoenix.

Schools interested in signing up for the competition and engineers interested in volunteering as mentors or judges should contact Clark County civil engineer Wendy Fenner at (702) 455-6094. More information about Future City is on the Internet (www.futurecity.org).