St. Clair Jr. High wins regional Future City competition

CHICAGO — A team of students from St. Clair RXIII has won the Chicago Regional National Engineers Week Future City competition.

St Clair students traveled from a school located 50 miles west of St. Louis to compete in the Chicago competition. They will now travel to Washington D.C. to compete in the 19th Annual Future City National Finals (www.futurecity.org), scheduled for Feb. 18-22, 2011 at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill.

More than 33,000 students from 1,000 middle schools in 35 regions across the country are participating in the Future City regional competitions. The grand prize is a trip to Space Camp in Alabama, provided by National Finals host Bentley Systems Inc.

The three winning team members are Shayla Hinson (age 13), Sydney Stahlma (age 13) and Mikaela Drewel (age 13) and were assisted by Kyler Waldo (age 13) and Jamie Foutch (age 13). Their teacher Jennifer Hawkins and engineer mentor Ron Kadone, Clayton Engineering Co. (retired) provided guidance.

The wining municipality, ‘Saludable,’ which means healthy in Spanish, is a technologically advanced, health conscience city. It is set if in the year 2266 in northern Venezuela. Having low pollution provides the city with better health and life expectancy. Research centers in the city have found cures for many diseases including Viral Meningitis, obesity, staph infection and Muscular Dystrophy. The city has several renewable energy sources getting power from the Rio Saludable Hydroelectric dam and wind turbines. Citizens of Saludable are progressive, well educated, healthy conscience and technology advanced.

Shayla Hinson said, “This competition taught me a lot about engineering. I enjoyed building the model the model and writing the script for the presentation. I’m really excited to meet students form all over the county and compete nationally.”

Sydney Stahlman added, “I learned a lot about engineering and architecture preparing for this competition. I had fun and it is definitely something I’ll look forward to again next year.”

This program has been instituted by the engineering profession to bring hands-on, practical applications of mathematics and science to educate young minds as to the essential role engineers play in creating our modern technological society, said Robert B. Johnson, Bowman, Barrett & Associates, a spokesman for the Chicagoland Future City Program.

"The future of America is not found on the basketball courts, football grid irons, tennis courts, golf courses or baseball diamonds, but in the minds of these young dreamers."

Chicago runners up include:
• 2nd – St. Paul of the Cross School, Park Ridge, Ill.
• 3rd – Franklin Middle School, Wheaton, Ill.
• 4th – Miles Davis Magnet Academy, Chicago
• 5th – Stone Scholastic Academy, Chicago

For more information about the competition, please visit https://www.futurecity.org/.