It was an all sixth-grade student lineup representing Indian Hill Middle School (IHMS) during the Future City competition Saturday, January 12, 2019, at the Eastland Career Center in Groveport, Ohio. Our Braves tackled a problem current urban cities are experiencing, and designed futuristic solutions that placed them in the top four of the state!
“The success we experienced this year was especially exciting because our team of all sixth graders competed in the top five against teams of seventh and eighth graders,” said IHMS teacher Amanda Sopko.
The IHMS Future City team included students Henry Brown, Kip Richardson, Lillian Liu, and Alex Valz. Future City is a national engineering competition for sixth, seventh, and eighth graders. Students are tasked with creating solutions for a city 100 years in the future. The IHMS team awards included: Best Use of Water Resources; Best Land Surveying Practices; Best Use of Recycled Materials; Best Use of Energy; Best Essay; and, the team placed fourth in the state.
“In Future City I enjoyed brainstorming about ways to make our city better and how energy can be generated more efficiently,” said IHMS team member Lillian Liu. “It gave me the ability to see what a more energy efficient future could look like for the earth. I also gained a lot of experience through teamwork, friendship, and research.”
“Throughout this project, students built a virtual city to learn basic infrastructure and set goals to build a successful city,” said Sopko. “They conducted research, wrote an essay, and constructed a model of their city to present to a panel of engineer judges. The students used the engineering design process and team work.”
"Future City was a fun way to learn about how engineers can make a city a better place to live," said IHMS team member Henry Brown. "Even though we are only in sixth grade, all of the judges were interested in our ideas and asked great questions. It was a fun team-learning experience about engineering."
Five IHMS Future City teams competed with each other in December 2018 to determine which team would represent IHMS at the regional competition.
“Not only was Future City fun, but it was also a great learning experience,” said IHMS team member Kip Richardson. “You learn about engineering, designing, writing, risks, time management, architecture, energy, transportation, and exactly how cities are made and operated. My favorite part of the project was building the model and preparing the presentation.”
“I wanted my students to learn to appreciate the discipline of engineering, and the role it plays in their everyday lives,” said Sopko. “I also wanted them to learn the importance of team work, growth mindset, and resilience when the project inevitably takes an unexpected turn. This event scored an A+ in student growth.”
Photo caption (L to R): Three of the Indian Hill Middle School Future City members, including Henry Brown, Kip Richardson, and Lillian Liu presented at the regional competition January 12, 2019.