What is Future City Competition?
More than just a "competition"
Future City is a project-based educational program for sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students that engages and challenges them to develop their vision of a livable city of the future.
Using a hands-on, inquiry-based strategy, the Future City program gives middle school students a fun way to tackle real-world problems while building their STEM skills.
Part of National Engineers Week
Future City brings together technical professionals from around DFW and the North Texas area to provide middle schoolers an opportunity to explore engineering. More than 100 engineer-volunteers from dozens of companies and professional engineering associations give thousands of hours of their time and expertise to the Future City program and inspiring the next generation of technical professionals.
The Challenge:
Students work as a team with an educator and engineer-mentor to plan/simulate cities using SimCityTM software; research and write solutions to an engineering problem; build tabletop scale models with recycled materials; and present their ideas before judges at the Regional Competition in January.
Learning Goals:
- Apply math and science concepts to real-world issues
- Develop writing, public speaking, problem solving, and time management skills
- Research and propose solutions to engineering challenges
- Discover different types of engineering and explore careers options
- Learn how their communities work and become better citizens
- Develop strong teamwork skills
The Prize(s)
The top team at the Regional Competition in January wins a trip to Washington, DC to compete in the National Finals against all other regional winners. The North Texas Region also offers many other prizes and awards to recognize student innovation and ingenuity.
The North Texas Region
The North Texas Region, based in Dallas/Fort Worth, is one of three regions in Texas. It is entirely operated and administered by volunteers dedicated to the goal of promoting engineering education and technological literacy.
Organizing Committee:
- Jean Eason, Regional Coordinator
- Richard Reppert, Judging Coordinator
- Cissy Sylo, Special Awards
- Diane Collier, Awards
Almost a hundred additional technical professionals volunteer their time and expertise to mentoring and judging. These volunteers represent many of the major engineering associations and employers in the area. For a more definitive list, check out our sponsors and reports on past competitions.
