Wheeling Students Take on City of the Future
Jan 8 2009
If you've wondered what a city like Wheeling might look like years from now, check with some students from the city's four middle schools.
On Tuesday students from Triadelphia, Wheeling, Warwood, and Bridge Street schools will prepare for the 2009 Pittsburgh Regional Future City Competition Jan. 24 at Carnegie Music Hall by practicing their presentations and displaying their models at the Center for Educational Technologies®. The students will take part in a public dress rehearsal from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Discovery Center within the Center for Educational Technologies building.
Each team will create a city displaying residential, commercial, and industrial areas; power plants; transportation systems; communication systems; and other infrastructure. Students will address important issues such as pollution, traffic density, taxes, and budgets while creating their city.
At Tuesday's rehearsal the students' future city will be judged, and the students will then take that feedback and revise their projects before the actual competition in Pittsburgh.
The competition is part of National Engineers Week, which seeks to increase public awareness and appreciation of the engineering profession and technology by emphasizing engineers' positive contributions to society. The Future City Competition provides seventh- and eighth-graders a fun, exciting way to understand how to practically apply math and science principles. Competitors use the SimCity™ software to help construct their future city, and they are assisted by real-life area engineers who serve as mentors for their team.
Here is the agenda for the evening:
5:45-6:00: Teams Set up Their Displays
6:00-6:30: Teachers and Engineers Evaluate Models
6:30-6:45: Welcome and Introductions
6:45-7:15: Student Presentations
7:15-7:45: Teachers and Engineer Mentors Ask Follow-up Questions to Students
7:45-7:55: Recognition for Participating Students, Teachers and Mentors
7:55-8:00: Review of Logistics for Regional Competition
Here are the members of each team:
Bridge Street Middle School
Teacher Mentor: Mary Dolan
Engineer Mentor: Tim Mizer
Students: Matthew Dingess, Shannon Estep, Timberly Robinson, Nick Boston, Caleb Nolte, Patrick Barrows, Ashley Bennett, Cole Garrison, Caleb Knorr, Matthew Brooks, Kathleen Buch, Addison Johnston, Alex Buch, Wayland Tayler, Maliya Miller, Thomas Doane, Brittney Ritchea
Triadelphia Middle School
Teacher Mentor: Kathleen Bowers
Engineer Mentor: Richard Humphrey
Students: Samantha Dodd, Erika McNeil, Anna-Marie Phillips, Rebecca Sellers
Warwood School
Teacher Mentors: Mary Ann Muir, Carrie Jones
Engineer Mentor: Richard Eberhard
Students: Audrey Clark, Jay Coleman, Samantha Criswell, Colter Fragale, Alex Freshwater, Julie Maynard, Devyn Nickerson, Seth Porter, Noah Salvatore, Ike Tan, Zach VanHorn, Garrett Weigel
Wheeling Middle School
Teacher Mentor: Gretchen Cunningham
Engineer Mentors: Michael S. Sofka, Christina Harper
Students: Brittany Parsons, Maxwell Steinman, Kenneth Valeus
