Wheatland Center School students rank top 5 in Future City 2022 competition – West I

Students from Wheatland Center School have once again done well in the Future City competition.

From a school press release:

A team of Wheatland students made the top 5 in the Future City Competition for third
year out of the last four. On Saturday, January 15, 2022, three teams from Wheatland Center
The school participated in STEMForward’s regional Future City competition in Wisconsin. the
Future City Competition is a rigorous project using engineering concepts throughout 5
deliverables. Students participate as a team, guided by an educator and a STEM volunteer
mentor. Teams spend around four months creating cities that could exist at least 100
years in the future. Every city must incorporate a solution to a changing design challenge
every year. Wheatland teams began in September using the engineering design process and
Project management cycle to write an essay, create a Google Slide presentation on
different aspects of their city, make a project plan, create a scale model of their future city,
and create a video presentation. The students then met virtually with a panel of expert judges from
various engineering disciplines for a Q&A session about their city.

The theme of this year’s challenge was creating a waste-free city using the principles of a
Circular economy. Students had to think about how to design waste and pollution, how to keep
products and materials used, and regenerate natural systems in their waste-free cities. Teams
used ideas such as recycling plastic into insulation and bricks for homes, using glass cullet to
landscaping and sand trapping of golf courses, and the creation of biomass energy facilities to supply
waste energy to power their cities. Grade 8 student Abby daSilva said: “The city of the future has
helped me gain a lot of knowledge about how cities work and about different engineering techniques
the fields. Being able to plan a big project and see my ideas come to life has been invaluable.
experience for me over the past two years. I learned so many new concepts. First year
Jaxon Morehouse, participant and year 6 student, said: “We have worked hard on our research
and writing skills, and learned about different concepts like cultured meat and waste-to-energy.
I enjoyed working on the construction of the model.

This year, 49 teams competed from across southeast Wisconsin. After a day of virtual
meetings, the students were waiting for the results in the five areas. The top 5 teams met for another
Q&A series and judging with a different panel of expert judges for the chance to go to
Washington DC. “It was another year of perseverance for our students. The students were
excited to go to the Future City contest in person, but a week before the event there was a
decision to make it virtual due to the spike in COVID cases in the region. I couldn’t be prouder
student resilience and positive attitudes over the past two years,” says
Professor Kandi Horton.

Wheatland’s City of Apples placed 4th overall in this year’s competition as well as
receive two additional special prizes. The team received the “Exemplary Model” from the
American Society of Civil Engineers and “Best Project Planning” from PMI (Project
Management Institute) for their model and project plan composed of 4 parts: Setting objectives,
create a schedule, perform team check-ins, and reflect on the project. from Wheatland
the second team, Power Peaks, also received a special award for “Better waste management and
Recycling Facility” of APWA Wisconsin (American Public Works Association). “I learned a
a lot about recycling processes and how to work in a team. I also learned to compromise
with my team on decision making and goal setting,” said Grade 6 student Bennett Fuoss.