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Seven Ottoson students and one from Peirce competed well in a national test aimed at creating a city of the future. The eight were among 38 teams of students who entered this year's National
Engineering Week "Future Cities" competition, in which students create a SimCity model. With all the interim deadlines and requirements, only 10 teams
qualified to make it to the regional competition, and the Arlington
team of four
seventh-graders, three sixth-graders and one fifth-grader was one
of those that competed Jan. 19 at Northeastern University.
The Arlington team, from the
Arlington Educational Collaborative, was the only one that was not school-sponsored and
whose students worked on this competition completely on their own time
and in addition to their normal school work and other activities and
requirements.
All
the other teams were school-sponsored and were built into the team
member's curriculum and the students were given both in-class time and
homework time to work on the competition requirements.
The top three teams in the competition received awards. The Arlington team was among the other seven of the top 10, and none of the seven were ranked.
The imagined city must meet a number of specifications, then students research
and write a technical essay on an assigned scientific/engineering topic as it relates to their city. They then create a
physical scale model of a section of the city from recycled materials. Finally, they write an abstract that describes key features of their city and preparing a seven-minute presentation.
Team members included seventh-graders Jeremy Norberg-Bohm, Danny Wolf, Matt Ober, Ben Chaney; sixth-graders Rita Kambil, Louise Tanner, and Alex Koch; and fifth-grader (from Peirce) Maddy Smoak.
Arlington resident Dan Lovas, of VHB Engineering, served as our engineer-mentor, and staff from the Museum of Science briefed students on nanotechnology.
AEC staff member Sylvain Malfroy-Camine served as Co-Coach with AEC Director Kim Holt, and they were assisted by Bob Tanner.
The students are planning for next year's competition, so first- through third-place winners should be on their toes.
Involved was a Ottoson News Network video crew, consisting of Danny Wolf as producer, with Kate Barvick and Aidan Wilcox on cameras and interviews. The recorded team's preparation and the competition.
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