Pictured above is Mr. Coughlin's engineering team, who won “Best Educational System” Award at New England Regional Future City Competition. Thank you to Mr. Coughlin for organizing the club. And thank you to the young people for thinking about our future! Below is more information...
On Saturday, January 30th, a group of 7th and 8th grade students from the Dr. Albert F. Argenziano School competed in the New England regional Future City Competition at Northeastern University. This was the second year science teacher Michael Coughlin brought a team to the New England competition. The Future City Competition is a national, project-based learning experience where middle school students imagine, design, and build cities of the future. Students work as a team with an educator and engineer mentor to plan cities using SimCity™ software; research and write solutions to an engineering problem; build tabletop scale models with recycled materials; and present their ideas before judges.
This
year’s challenge—Feeding Future Cities—asked
students to design a futuristic urban farm environment to grow enough of
one
vegetable crop and one protein crop to feed their citizens. The
Argenziano
students designed a city focused on growing amaranth - a spinach-like
green -
and chicken within their city limits. The city was located on the
Mediterranean
island of Sicily 130 years in the future. The students built the city
with a
sustainable vision and made an engineering and agricultural university
the
centerpiece. The judges recognized the focus on education and awarded
the team
with the prize for the Best Education System, presented by judges from
Northeastern University. The students thoroughly enjoyed the competition
and
look forward to doing even better next year.
