Wisconsin Middle Schoolers Mitigate Climate Change in their Future City Designs to Compete in the Annual Future City Competition

Milwaukee, WI – Imagine a city 100 years in the future where climate change isn’t an issue. That is exactly what was asked of local middle school students as they competed in the Future City competition, a hands-on cross-curricular educational program that brings STEM to life. This year, teams tackled the Climate Change Challenge by choosing a climate change impact and designing one innovative and futuristic climate change adaptation and one mitigation strategy to keep their residents healthy and safe and then competed with peers in Wisconsin in the 2022-23 Future City Competition hosted by STEM Forward.

Working as a team with an educator and STEM mentor, students presented their vision of the future through a 1,500-word city essay; a scale model of their city built with recycled materials; a project plan to help keep their project on track and an in-person presentation and Q&A session with a panel of technical judges. Keeping the engineering design process and project management front and center, students were asked to address an authentic, real-world question: How can we make the world a better place?

This year 39 teams competed, representing 21 school schools across Wisconsin, and we are pleased to announce the five finalist teams.

• First Place: Team City of Slayijing, Glen Hills MS from Glendale
• Second Place: Team South Peruca, Whitman MS from Wauwatosa
• Third Place: Team Atlantic City 7, Longfellow MS from Wauwatosa
• Fourth Place: Team Golden Bay, Waukesha STEM from Waukesha
• Fifth Place: Team Vannby, Peace Lutheran School from Sun Prairie

Congratulations to the five finalists! You will be amazed at the talent of these energic students as they present their cities of the future and their ideas to mitigate climate change.

Each year, over 45,000 students representing 1,500 schools and 37 regions in the U.S. and around the world participate in the Future City Competition. Representing Wisconsin, The City of Slayijing from Glen Hills Middle School will face off at the Future City Competition International Finals in Washington, D.C., February 17-23, 2023.

“STEM Forward is excited to offer the Future City Competition for the past 30 years to ignite STEM passion in middle school kids. This program provides project management, engineering, and presentation skills focusing on environmental responsibility. This year’s competitors show a bright future in our future STEM leaders!” commented Theresa Wolf, Future City Program Manager at STEM Forward.

Future City has endless opportunities for engineering and technical professionals to volunteer in several roles, including team mentors, virtual competition judges, and regional coordinators. We couldn’t have done it without the help of the over 200 STEM professional volunteers and 42 Milwaukee School of Engineering student volunteers! For more information about Future City and volunteer opportunities, visit www.futurecity.org.

About STEM Forward

STEM Forward is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and metro Milwaukee’s leading K-12 STEM education and outreach provider. STEM Forward’s programs, events, and activities inspire local youth to pursue STEM careers and provide a talent pipeline to businesses in southeastern Wisconsin.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.