The J.M. Alexander Middle School Future City team celebrated after winning the N.C. championship and qualifying for a trip to the national championship. (Rachel Stewart photo)
A team of eight graders from the J.M. Alexander Middle School IB program on Saturday won the North Carolina Future City Competition at N.C. State University in Raleigh. Their alternative-energy powered “future city” of Mahali Kuwa, South Africa, was judged tops among more than two dozen schools.
It was the fifth straight year a north Mecklenburg International Baccalaureate team won the competition, continuing a tradition that began when the IB program was housed at Davidson IB Middle School.
The team now goes to the national finals during National Engineers Week Feb. 18-22 in Crystal City, Va. As North Carolina champs, J.M. Alexander will compete against the winners from 36 other regions around the country. And if history is any indication, the local team could be competitive at that event.
Teams from Davidson IB won the U.S. championship in 2010 and finished third in the U.S. in 2011. Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools closed the school last spring and moved the IB program to Alexander Middle School in Huntersville, where it is now a school-within-a-school.
J.M. Alexander teacher Mary Kendrick, who took over as Future City coach this year, said the team was excited to pick up where the Davidson IB teams left off. “It’s excellent, especially since we had some challenges this year with the change of school and teachers,” Ms Kendrick said. “The parents really puled together and the kids really pulled together. It’s awesome to be able to carry on the tradition.”
Alexander’s teams this year initially were coached by teacher Jay Hager, until he left around Thanksgiving end for a job in Mooresville. He also coached the successful teams at Davidson IB previously and built the Future City tradition that has carried over to Alexander. So he was watching Saturday’s results closely.
“I cannot emphasize strongly enough how heroic the parents have been in coming together to take up all the work that I used to do largely by myself and take risks to learn as much as they can about Future City to take this team forward,” Mr. Hager said. “Parental involvement is the key to making this Future City successful.”
He said he hopes to help the team plan for the national finals in the coming weeks. He said he has enjoyed watching each of his teams in recent years to mature. “It has been wonderful watching them grow and succeed as a team as with those individual stories intermingled in each year’s successes,” he said.
J.M. Alexander had three teams at Saturday’s day-long competition, one each from grades 6, 7 and 8. The teams have spent most of the school year creating future cities along this year’s theme: “Fuel Your Future: Imagine New Ways to Meet Our Energy Needs and Maintain a Healthy Planet.”
The objective was 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. Students had to consider the safety, cost, efficiency, and appearance of their ideas. In the process, they learned about the engineering disciplines that encompass their solution.
Each team had to create a computer simulation of their city as well as a large table-top model. They also had submit essays explaining their cities and how their various features fit the theme. At Saturday’s competition, they had to defend their cities before judges. Their city was chosen to be one of four finalists.
Student Raniah Jeanlys was one of the three “presenters” who explained the city. She said she was “a little bit tense and scared” as the awards were being announced at day’s end. When J.M. Alexander won, “It was exhilarating,” she said.
Besides Rania, other presenters on the eighth grade team were Eric Thorsheim and Allison Law. Other team members who designed Mahali Kuwa were Ian Ruppenthal, Caleb Readling, Austin Holmes and Peter Park. Brian Readling (Caleb’s dad) was the team’s engineer mentor.
In addition to winning the overall title, the eighth grade team also two specialty awards: Best model and best essay. The schools’ sixth-grade team won an award for most sustainable building.
MORE INFORMATION
Read more about the competition at www.futurecity.org/
See our archive of past stories about the Future City competition under the “Future City” tag.
Here’s the coverage from the Raleigh News & Observer, leading off with a photo of Eric Thorsheim!
http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/01/22/1796408/creative-kids-build-future-cities.html
Here’s the official announcement about the state Future City results, with additional schools and award winners:
J.M. ALEXANDER MIDDLE SCHOOL 8TH GRADERS WIN NORTH CAROLINA REGIONAL FUTURE CITY ® COMPETITION CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM NOW HEADS TO FINALS IN ARLINGTON VA, FEBRUARY 18-22
Raleigh, NC, JANUARY 21, 2012 – A team of 8th grade students from J.M. Alexander Middle School, Huntersville, NC has won the North Carolina Regional National Engineers Week Future City ® competition.
The winning students, Raniah Jeanlys, Allison Law and Erik Thorsheim teamed up with their teacher, Mary Kendrick and their volunteer engineer mentor Bryan Readling, PE with APA The Engineered Wood Association. Their winning city was “Mahali Kuwa”. The competition took place at SAS Hall, North Carolina State University in Raleigh on January 21.
They will now travel to Arlington, VA for the 20th Annual Future City National Finals (www.futurecity.org), scheduled for February 18-22, 2012 at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City. The first-place national team wins a trip to Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama, sponsored by Bentley Systems, Incorporated. Second place team receives a $5,000 scholarship from the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) for its school’s technology program. Third place receives a $2,000 scholarship from IEEE-USA for that school’s technology program. Bentley will also provide a 10-seat academic suite of engineering software for each school of the top three teams.
North Carolina Region runners up include:
Second place school: Martin GT Magnet Middle School, Raleigh, NC
Third place school: Ligon GT Magnet Middle School, Raleigh, NC
Fourth place school: Centennial Campus Magnet Middle School, Raleigh, NC
Specialty Award Winners include:
Best Transportation System: Ligon GT Magnet Middle School, Raleigh, NC
Most Sustainable Buildings: J.M. Alexander Middle School 6th Grade, Huntersville, NC
Best Management of Water Resources: East Millbrook IB Magnet Middle School 8th Grade, Raleigh, NC
Most Environmentally Sustainable City: East Millbrook IB Magnet Middle School 7th Grade, Raleigh, NC
Best Communication Systems: West Pine Middle School, West End, NC
Most Innovative Power Generation System: Carolina Friends School 7th Grade, Durham, NC
More than 35,000 students from 1,300 middle schools in 37 regions across the country are participating in the Future City regional competitions. If you wish to compete in next year’s competition, please contact Regional Co-Coordinators Chris Kreider at (919) 604-1469 ckreider@nc.rr.com or David Simpson at (919) 522-9599 dsimpson@simpsonengr.com.
About the Competition
Student teams plan and design virtual cities with SimCity 4 software (donated each by Electronic Arts), build physical models with recycled materials and a budget of just $100, research and write a solution to an engineering problem, write a narrative describing their city, and present their ideas before a panel of judges. This year’s essay topic is Fuel Your Future. It asks students to choose one energy source and design a way to generate electric power for their city that does not deplete natural resources and has a limited impact on the environment. Teams are judged on their presentation, virtual city design, physical model, research essay and city narrative.
About Engineers Week
National Engineers Week Foundation is a coalition of more than 100 professional societies, major corporations and government agencies dedicated to increasing understanding of, and interest in, engineering and technology careers among students and adults. As it promotes pre-college literacy in math and science, the Foundation also raises public understanding of, and appreciation for, engineers’ contributions to society. Engineers Week’s activities and programming take place during the week of President’s Day; it has also grown to now include additional events throughout the year. Founded in 1951, Engineers Week is among the oldest of America’s professional outreach efforts. Co-chairs for 2012 are Battelle and ASME. For more information, visit http://www.eweek.org.
Local support for the North Carolina Region competition is provided by:
Shell (Major Sustaining Sponsor)
North Carolina Science, Mathematics and Technology Education Center (Sustaining Sponsor)
ACI Carolinas Chapter
AECOM
AMEC
American Society of Civil Engineers – NC Section
Martin Marietta Materials
NC State University, College of Engineering
Professional Engineers of North Carolina
Simpson Engineers and Associates