Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - May/June 2014 - (Page 8)

imagine The Future City Competition design build In the Future City Competition, teams of middle school students work with an educator and engineer mentor to design a city of the future. They begin by conducting research and writing an essay on an annual theme. Then, using SimCity software, they build a virtual model of their imagined city and a scale model using recycled materials. They create a narrative about their city and present their ideas to judges at regional competitions; winners advance to national finals in Washington, DC. This year, 40,000 students from 1,350 schools participated in the competition. Here, three members of the winning team from St. John Lutheran School in Rochester, Michigan, share their experience. Justin Judd The Dremel Master I joined the team in sixth grade. The theme that year was "fuel Your future: Imagine New Ways to Meet Our Energy Needs and Maintain a healthy Planet." We developed our model city of Mahina Mana on the hawaiian island of Molokai. Our engineer mentor, Dr. Gerhardt, and our teacher, Mr. Pfund, asked me to be a presenter, but I wasn't comfortable talking in front of large groups. My teammates, Paul and Rebecca, presented. We formatted our presentation like 8 imagine a spelling bee, which helped them describe our model in an entertaining way. We won the Michigan competition and placed 13th at nationals. Only presenters attend nationals, and when Paul and Rebecca described the fun they'd had, I signed up again the following year. In seventh grade, we modeled Nouveau Pierre, the re-imagined city of St. Pierre on the island of Martinique, which was destroyed by a volcano in 1902. We selected this location because it had issues with rainwater runoff-that year's theme-and also because we wanted to build a volcano on our model. I became may/Jun 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - May/June 2014

Big Picture
In My Own Words
Imagine, Design, Build
A Schematic of the Possible
My Life as an Architect
Blueprint for the Future
DesertSol: A Model of Sustainability
Across Space and Time
The Art of Summer
Selected Opportunities & Resources
A Digital Canvas
Rising to the Technovation Challenge
Off the Shelf
Word Wise
Exploring Career Options
One Step Ahead
Planning Ahead for College
Students Review
Creative Minds Imagine
Mark Your Calendar
Knossos Games

Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - May/June 2014