Birchland Park Middle School in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts Wins AIAA 2005 Special Award
WASHINGTON, February 23, 2005 – A city of the future for the Best Use of Aerospace Technology, sponsored by The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) – National Capital Section (NCS): was awarded to the Birchland Park Middle School in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts, from the New England regional competition. The Name of Future City was“Flintopia”, made by students, Michelle Grohe, Jonathan,Stack, and Kyle Sears. The teacher was Susan Superson, and Engineer mentor was Kathryn Hamilton.
Kyle Sears, teacher Susan Superson, Bruce Cranford, AIAA-NCS; Jonathan Stack, Steve Moran, AIAA-NCS; Michelle Grohe, engineer mentor Kathryn Hamilton
The AIAA NCS special award was part of 32 Special Awards that were handed out at the Special Awards Luncheon on Wednesday afternoon, sponsored in part by Shell Oil Company.
Teams from 32 middle schools nationwide, winners of regional competitions in January, participated in the Future City National Finals on Monday through Wednesday, February 21-23 at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia.
The Future City National Finals is hosted by Bentley Systems, Incorporated, a leading engineering software company, and chair of the competition’s Leadership Council. All regional winning teams received an all-expense-paid trip to Washington for the National Finals.
Future City invites 7 th- and 8 th-grade students to create a city of the future using SimCity 3000 software – donated to each participating school by Electronic Arts of Redwood City, California. Working with a teacher and volunteer engineer mentor, the teams then build a large, tabletop scale model of a portion of their city, and present and defend their designs before a panel of judges at the competition. The cities contend with pollution, unemployment, security, crime rates, and other real-life problems – with no deficit spending. Students also have written an essay on creating future transportation systems using basic aggregates – stone, sand, and gravel. This year’s essay challenge was sponsored by the National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association.
Future City National Finals teams this year represented 17 public schools, seven parochial, five private, and three home-schooled groups, and were comprised of 53 boys and 43 girls. As varied as the regional winners may be, they all have one thing in common: a program that challenges them to explore science, math, engineering, arts, and writing and, at the same time, discover abilities they never knew they had.
Teaching students to hone the skills that solve real-world problems is at the core of Future City. Now in its 13 th year, Future City encourages interest in engineering by providing hands-on applications for math and science, and lays the foundation for developing workplace skills such as vision and imagination, troubleshooting, teamwork and cooperation. Volunteer mentors offer what is often a student's first glimpse into the world of engineering, a step in encouraging a career in the field.
Future City is sponsored in part by Engineers Week, February 20-26, a consortium of more than 100 engineering societies and major corporations, founded in 1951 to increase 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.futurecity.org and www.eweek.org.