December 15, 2004
STUDENTS FIND ENGINEERING PROGRAM GOES BEYOND MATH AND
SCIENCE – TO SPORTS, HISTORY, THE ARTS… AND MORE
At four-foot-nine and 84 pounds, Anthony Notaro may not be a power athlete, but the 12-year-old is convinced he's become a better swimmer since September, and it has nothing to do with laps.
The National Engineers Week Future City Competition™ – an educational program that introduces middle-school students to engineering – has helped him in math and science, and it's had a positive effect on many other facets of his school and social life.
"It's helped me with sports and it’s helped me a lot with teamwork," says Anthony, a 7 th-grader at Nativity of Our Lord School in Orchard Park, New York, adding that the benefit goes well beyond swimming. "At the beginning of the year I only worked alone on the computer. Now I work with others and we divide the work. I share easier. I don't have to be the center of everything."
The program, now in its 13th year, asks students to create cities of the future, first on computer and then in large tabletop models. Students, working in teams with a teacher and volunteer engineer mentor, must also write a city abstract and an essay on using engineering to solve an important social need. This year's theme: "How can futuristic transportation systems efficiently use aggregate materials – crushed stone, sand, and gravel – as a basic construction product?"
To those unfamiliar with Future City, the question may sound esoteric and difficult, but to the estimated 30,000 seventh- and eighth-graders from more than 1,000 schools in 35 regions across America who are tackling the challenges raised by the competition, it's a welcome task.
"This is a great opportunity to learn about things we wouldn't learn about otherwise, like industry and transportation," says Katie Knorr, a 13-year-old at Drexel Hill Middle School in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania. "I notice and understand why roads go the way they go, why buildings are the way they are, and what government does. It all makes more sense, so I understand the world and our society." That understanding, she notes, has helped her outlook not just at school, but in her own life. "It makes me think that some day I'll be able to make the world a better place."
She's also seen Future City's positive influence in other parts of her school day. "I love singing," says Katie. "In music it's all about getting the good balance. In English it's all about a blend of talent and ideas. That's what I've learned from Future City."
The winning teams from qualifying regional competitions in January receive an all-expense-paid trip to the Future City National Finals, hosted by Bentley Systems, Incorporated, in Washington, D.C., February 21-23, 2005 during Engineers Week. National grand prize is a trip to U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama. Numerous other prizes are awarded at the regionals.
Sponsored by the Engineers Week Committee, a consortium of more than 100 engineering societies and major corporations, Future City is the largest and most successful not-for-profit educational program of its kind. Student design their cities using SimCity 3000 software donated to all schools by Electronic Arts of Redwood City, California, and then build large, 3-D scale models. At the competition, they present and defend their cities before a panel of judges.
Future City also gives students their first glimpse into engineering, a subject not top-of-mind to most middle-schoolers. "Engineering is very interesting," notes Mary Sullivan, a 7 th-grader at Ira A. Murphy Elementary in Peoria, Arizona, laconically. "It really surprised me how much I like it. Before it seemed like a boring subject, but now, I might want to get into it in college."
Making that kind of connection is at the heart of an effort by the entire engineering community to encourage young people to consider engineering as a career. Volunteer mentors, like Michael McNally of McNally Engineering in Oakland, New Jersey, play a pivotal role in that outreach. Yet, McNally says, he's often the one who gets an education.
"Their minds are absolutely incredible," he says. "I've been a civil engineer for 42 years and it's often the same thing. After a while you end up in a little bit of a bubble of your own. Working with them opens your eyes to how young minds think in resolving social problems and that's very refreshing."
The feeling goes both ways. "Our students are impressed and inspired by hard-working mentors, who obviously enjoy their jobs," says Janet Henke, a metallurgical engineer and the regional coordinator for Future City in Pittsburgh.
Jessica Steiner, from Riverview Junior/Senior High in Oakmont, Pennsylvania (the school whose team won the Future City National Finals in 2004), agrees that mentors and teachers inspire her work. "We don't want to let our mentors, our teachers, or ourselves down."
The teacher guiding the Riverview team, Brian Ludwig, says he's impressed with his 2005 Future City students. "They really grow as a team and as individuals throughout the year," he says. Janeice Calfe, who runs the gifted education program for the Riverview school district, says that, in turn, the students get to know teachers better and that makes certain subjects less intimidating. "All of a sudden, they're buddies with the physics teacher," she says. "I've had students tell me, 'I was always afraid of physics.' Then they get to know Mr. Ludwig and they say, 'Now I can't wait to take physics.'"
To hear the students tell it, even history studies benefit. "Now in social studies when we hear about long ago cities, I realize how hard it must have been to build them, how hard it must have been to build the pyramids," says Coleen Raab, from Nativity of Our Lord School.
"When you invigorate the minds of children, you advance all aspects of their education," says Carol Rieg, Future City's national director. " Future City stimulates students and because it taps such a wide range of abilities and talents, it's proven to be consistently successful in schools of every size and every demographic. The result is more than just higher math scores or better science grades. It's students who now embrace all aspects of their education, students who feel, often for the first time, vested in the future."
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- The following 35 regional sites are participating in the 2005 competition: Albany (NY), Buffalo, Northern California, Southern California, Chicago, Colorado, Florida, Hampton Roads, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Las Vegas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Milwaukee, Minnesota, New England, New Jersey, New York City, North Carolina, Northern Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Omaha, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, South Carolina, St. Louis, Texas-Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas-Houston, Washington, D.C., and Washington State. For more information visit www.futurecity.org.
- The winning team (three students, teacher, and engineer mentor) from each qualifying regional Future City Competition receives an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., for the national finals. First place national team wins a trip to U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama, provided by national finals host Bentley Systems, Incorporated, a leading engineering software company. Second-place team receives a $2,000 scholarship for the school's technology program, sponsored by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. A $1,000 scholarship for the third-place team's school technology curriculum is provided by The National Society of Professional Engineers. Numerous other prizes are awarded at regional competitions.
- The National Engineers Week Future City Competition is sponsored in part by the Engineers Week Committee, a consortium of professional and technical societies and major U.S. corporations. Engineers Week, founded in 1951 by the National Society of Professional Engineers, is dedicated to increasing public awareness and appreciation of the engineering profession and technology. Co-chairs for 2005 are ASME (The American Society of Mechanical Engineers) and BP, p.l.c. For more information visit www.eweek.org .
- Heading the Future City Competition Leadership Council is Bentley Systems, Incorporated ( www.bentley.com). The 2005 Future City Essay sponsor is the National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association ( www.nssga.org).
- About the SimCity TM Franchise: Pursuing a lifelong fascination with simulations, legendary game designer Will Wright and his team at Maxis created the original SimCity in 1989. Critically acclaimed, it garnered dozens of awards and sold millions of copies both domestically and internationally. SimCity 2000 TM followed in 1993. SimCity 3000 TM , released in 1999, became the #1 selling PC game that year. SimCity 4 was released in January 2003 and continues to win awards and remain on top of the sales charts. SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition, which includes SimCity 4 and the latest SimCity 4 Rush Hour Expansion Pack, launched in September 2003 to rave reviews.
- About Electronic Arts: Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, EA posted revenues of $2.96 billion for fiscal 2004. The company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers and the Internet. In 2003, EA had 27 titles that sold more than one million copies. Electronic Arts markets its products under three brand names: EA SPORTS, EA GAMES, and EA SPORTS BIG. EA’s homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA’s products and full text of press releases can be found at http://info.ea.com. Electronic Arts, EA SPORTS, EA GAMES, EA SPORTS BIG, Maxis, and The Sims are trademarks, or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
