We need your help!

Engineers and other STEM professionals: You are invited to help judge entries by teams of 6th, 7th or 8th grade students.

Judging commitments are approximately 2-5 hours in length, and you can sign up for more than one judging event. We provide score sheets that identify criteria, and same-day training as needed.

We need judges for the following phases of FCC:

• Virtual cities (cities created using SimCity 4 Deluxe software)
• Research essays (1,000 words) and city narratives (500 words)
• Team oral presentations and physical city model

View rubrics for each component

Judging Virtual Cities:
Students use SimCity™ 4 Deluxe to design a city 150+ years in the future with at least 50,000 residents. No previous SimCity experience required. On-site training and written tutorials are available. Judges may work in teams.

Read more about Designing the Virtual City.

Date: December 2011 (dates TBD)

Time: 4:00-8:00 p.m. We ask for a two-hour commitment.

Location: PC Computer lab at FAIR School, Crystal

*Experienced judges may choose to judge the virtual cities at home.

Judging Research Essays and City Narratives:
Judge 1,000-word research essays on an engineering-related topic and 500-word city narratives on your home computer.

The 2011-2012 Research Essay challenges invites students to choose one energy source and design a way to generate electric power for their city that does not deplete natural resources and has limited impact on the environment.

Read more about the Research Essay.

The City Narrative describes the future city’s key features and design attributes. The purpose of the City Narrative is to give the judges a quick overview of the future city’s infrastructure and its public services.

Read more about the City Narrative.

Date: Research Essays and City Narratives will be available for downloading beginning December 20, 2011. Scores (submitted online) are due by January 5, 2012.

Judging Oral Presentations and Physical City Models:
Judges work in teams to evaluate the students’ Oral Presentation and Physical City Models.

Date/Time: January 14, 2011, 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. (Judges are welcome to stay for lunch, finalist presentations, and the awards ceremony (concludes at 4:00 p.m.)

Location: Science Teaching & Student Services building at the University of Minnesota (Minneapolis campus, East Bank)