St.
John
Lutheran School in Rochester, MI, won first place in the Engineering
Society of Detroit’s (ESD) Regional Future City Competition, which was
held on January 14th at the Rock Financial Showplace in
Novi, MI.
The Future City
Competition challenges students to design a city of the future - and
have fun doing it. This program was designed to promote technological
literacy and engineering to seventh and eighth grade students. The
program fosters an interest in math, science and engineering through
hands-on, real world applications and helps students better understand
the practical applications of mathematical and scientific principles.
The Future City Competition is a team-based program consisting of
students, a teacher, and an engineer mentor. Throughout the
competition, students learn to apply their knowledge to real-world
situations, while seeing first hand how an engineer turns ideas into
reality.
The SPE Detroit
Section is an annual sponsor of this event to help encourage the
consideration of plastics, and part of the competition includes a
separate, special award for the “Best Incorporation of Plastics
Materials”. SPE Detroit Section judges included Wayne Hertlein of
Progressive Components, Norm Kakarala of Inteva Products, Ron Price of
Global Polymer Solution and Bill Windscheif of Advanced Innovative
Solutions, Ltd. Grand Blanc West Middle School in Grand Blanc, MI,
received top honors in this category and also took top prize for "Best
Incorporation of Building Materials".
The St. John
Lutheran School students will now compete in the national finals that
will be held in February in Washington D.C. For more information
about the Future City Competition, visit
www.futurecity.org.