RALEIGH — Lumberton Junior High School students brought home the Core Value Award from the Future City Competition Saturday in Raleigh.
Students from grades 7-8 who are part of the school’s Technology Club participated in the competition held at N.C. State University’s McKimmon Center.
“Future City is a hands-on cross-curricular educational program that brings STEM to life for students in grades 6 through 8,” according to the Future City website. “Using the Engineering Design Process (EDP) and project management skills, students showcase their solutions to a citywide sustainability issue.”
This year’s challenge was to design and build an all-electric city addressing all the needs of a bustling Puerto Rican community in 2124 called Eden formerly known as San Juan.
LJHS student Heylin Perez Hernandez said the event “expanded my creativity and my leadership skills.”
“The project was a lot of fun,” said LJHS student Kahlil Isaac. “I was scared when I got to Raleigh … but everyone seemed to like our ideas. In the end, I thought it was very cool that we won an award. I am going to do it again next year and tell my friends to join.”
LJHS student Abel Zuniga Vasquez admitted he was nervous. But, Abel called the competition experience “incredible.”
Phyllis King, who is a Career and Technical Education teacher at LJHS and adviser of the Technology Club, said she is proud of her students.
“Future City is a very rigorous academic project that our students engaged in for an entire semester,” she said.
“I am very proud of them and what they accomplished while completing their other classes. This STEM project allows them to think outside of the traditional education setting by using the engineering process to discover the best way to solve problems and create solutions they can support through research. As a team, students submitted a research paper, built a model (using recycled material) that reflects their solutions, and presented it to a panel of judges,” King added.
The Core Value Award was given to students for their work as a team on the project, she said. The team demonstrated an urgency to complete the project and worked so that all team members were heard in the process. The award was presented to students by representatives from Jacobs Engineering, which is based in Cary.
King has been taking her students to the Future City Competition for about 22 years and she always beams with pride as they present their innovative projects.
“As an educator, it is exciting to see my students think about how to make the world more sustainable,” she said.
Students prepared for the event for months as they planned what their city would look like, how it would function, and how it would be constructed, according to David Causey, who serves as an engineer mentor to the students.
“We spent the first several weeks just brainstorming ideas, doing research, and understanding the roles engineers play in the life of a city. Students also learned about the Engineering Design Process,” Causey said.
“There was a lot of excitement at first about what the future could look like, and how we could show that in our model. As the deadline approached, students saw how much they depended on their teammates to complete everything on time. These are good life lessons for all of us, and we see leadership skills developing,” he added.
PSRC Superintendent Dr. Freddie Williamson released a statement congratulating students for their hard work and achievement.
“Congratulations to Lumberton Junior High School students! I would like to thank Principal Dr. Jamane Watson and Ms. Phyllis King for their leadership, and PSRC Board of Education members for their support,” said PSRC Superintendent Dr. Freddie Williamson.
“Our students are future engineers, problem-solvers, and innovators. The Future City Competition is an opportunity for them to think outside of the box and take a look at complex issues that need to be addressed. We look forward to the continued success of our students, anticipating a bright future ahead of them,” Williamson added.