Middle School Students Participate in Future City Competition
January 24, 2024
For the first time ever, Sayville Middle School sent two teams to compete in the Future City Competition regional event in New York City.
Supported and coached by Sayville Middle School science teacher Lindsey Loscalzo and technology teacher Jeffrey Goodman, the teams took part in the most engaging international S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) competition available for middle school students.
For the competition, the students were tasked with imagining what a city set one hundred years in the future would look like. This challenge allowed the groups to put themselves in the place of both engineers and city officials to create the most progressive solutions to problems in a cross-curricular and educational experience. The theme this year focused on how electricity would be produced and delivered in the future and how ideas could correct our current problems and challenges.
The two teams imagined two totally different and unique solutions. Team Hexintra, which consisted of Jayden Aurelio, Jack Bombera, Eric Dong, Chris Powers, & Gavin Walsh, set their future city along the coast of the Pacific Northwest. Their name was inspired by their hexagonal zoned districts. Their vision for the future was anchored in developing new materials to build with and store energy. They even imagined a new industry for their city that included asteroid mining with their municipal space program.
Team Merlandia, which consisted of Samantha Graziano, Angela Liselli, and Alexa Yacono, was set off the coast of Hawaii and had an aquatic theme. Their island city created a future Venice complete with canal systems. This team highlighted their access to water and created an industry of algae-based biofuel production and distribution. They even used their setting to inspire new methods for fire fighting as well as providing clean drinking water for their citizens. Their team name inspired a mermaid-themed community park.
Both Sayville future city teams were recognized for their outstanding efforts. The competition has many different components, from planning, model building, writing an essay, presentations to a panel of judges, question and answer sessions with real engineers, and completing a budget. In addition, there are special area judges, and they give out awards for teams who best address their areas of expertise.
Team Merlandia scored a special area award for waste management systems. Team Hexintra was awarded two special area awards for best communication system and best project planning. Team Hexintra was also recognized for coming in fourth place overall in the contest, a very impressive accomplishment.
Mr. Goodman and Mrs. Loscalzo both expressed pride in how well the teams performed in the competition and all the effort put into planning and getting there.
“There is a tremendous amount of work that takes place just to get to the starting line, and about half the teams who sign up do not make it this far,” Mr. Goodman said.
“These two teams were able to envision a future that is so positive and addresses my concerns for the future,” Mrs. Loscalzo said. “I feel confident that they will help lead us into the future as they become leaders in their respective fields.”
Hexintra and Merlandia are now both part of a long-standing Sayville tradition of competing in, and winning, the Future City Competition. When all the awards were combined together, the students who went to the competition shared not only their trophies and medals, but also $270 in gift cards donated by Amazon.