Fort Couch Middle School Future Student Engineers Design a Virtual Future City
In celebration and support of the 2016 National Engineers Week, the Pittsburgh Regional Future City Competition was held on Saturday, January 23, at the Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland. The three Fort Couch students who represented the Future City team at the competition were Vivek Babu, Ben Nelson, and Emme Wetzel.
Drawing students from Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia, the event was a cross-curricular program
that encouraged students do things that engineers do: identify problems, brainstorm ideas, design solutions, test and retest, build and then share the results.
This year, the annual competition aimed to inspire students to better understand the practical applications of mathematics and science, and to ultimately pursue a career in engineering, math, or science. The challenge was for middle school students to design a “city of the future” with a focus on developing an innovative city-wide waste management system. Students presented their solutions via a virtual city design (using SimCity); a 1,500-word city description; a scale model; a project plan, and a presentation to judges at Regional Competitions.
Fort Couch Middle School won the special award for “Best Use of Nuclear Technology.” For the official listing of all 2016 Pittsburgh Region special awards, click here.
Ms. Connie Gibson and Mr. Jason O'Roark served as faculty sponsors for the Fort Couch Future City program.
Pictured:
Participants in the 2016 Future City competition were (left to right) Vivek Babu, Emme Wetzel, Ben Nelson.
