St. John Lutheran Wins ESD Future City
St. John Lutheran School of Rochester won this year's Michigan Regional Future City Competition, beating 40 other teams from throughout Michigan and the City of Detroit.
The team, which created "Trinitas Avenir," a future Detroit in the year 2160 and beyond, will go on to compete in the National Future City Competition in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 18-22. The winner of the national competition will receive a trip to U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama.
St. John also won first place in the Michigan competition in 2009.
In addition to St. John, four other schools placed in the top five. They are: 5th place: St. Valentine School, Redford; 4th place: University Liggett School, Grosse Pointe Woods; 3rd place: St. Joseph School, Lake Orion; and in 2nd place: MacArthur K-8 University Academy in Southfield.
In addition, 32 schools walked away with Special Awards, ranging from Best Futuristic Transportation and Best Rookie Team to Best Use of Energy and Most Healthy Community.
For the first time ever, and in recognition of the Future Detroit Competition, ESD created the Future City Detroit Special Award. Academy of the Sacred Heart in Bloomfield Hills received the award and a $1,000 check. Criteria for winning the award included: Geography of Michigan; knowledge and use of natural resources; position of Michigan as a border state; Michigan's influence on the global scene; and cultural diversity.
In its 16th year, the Michigan Regional Future City Competition is a nationwide competition that challenges middle school students to envision a city in the future in which they would like to live. Guided by their teachers and volunteer engineer mentors, students have three months to develop a computer model, write an essay, build a physical model using engineering and mathematical principles, and then present their creations to professional judges.
New this year, and following the competition on Feb. 12, teams that built a Future Detroit will be invited to participate in an ESD Institute-sponsored kids' symposium, titled "Envisioning Tomorrow Together," whereby contestants will draft a collective vision for a future Detroit by thinking about and responding to questions like:
* What are the things that make a city cool?
* If you were envisioning "Future Detroit," what would it look like and how would you accomplish it?
* If you were 30 years old and living in Detroit, what would be your vision in order to live and work happily there?
* If you were a future leader of Detroit, how would you accomplish your vision of Detroit?
The Michigan Regional Future City Competition is funded partly by The DTE Energy Foundation, the Ford Motor Co. Fund, Initiative Science, the Project Management Education Foundation, and the Detroit Public School Foundation.
Founded in 1895, ESD is a multi-disciplinary society uniting engineering, scientific and allied professions to enhance professional development and foster excitement in math and science to produce our next generation of leaders. Serving this generation of engineers and fostering the next. For more information, visit www.esd.org.
