Heritage Middle School in Westerville took first place at the 2013 National Engineers Week Future City Competition – Ohio Region, held January 19 at Columbus State Community College. The Heritage team earned an all-expense paid trip to compete at the National Future City Competition in Crystal City, Virginia, in February, in recognition of National Engineers Week.
Teams from 18 Ohio middle schools built 3-D models of the cities they created and wrote abstract descriptions. Additionally, each student team wrote an essay on the theme, Rethink Runoff: Design Clean Solutions to Manage Stormwater Pollution. Engineers judged the teams on their oral presentation of the city, computer design and map, model, essay and abstract.
The first place team from Heritage included student presenters CeCe Hollins, Jenna Johnston and Sam Johnston, along with eighth graders Raymond Diep, Austin Lovell, Michael Wade, Mia Hoffman, Trent Harris, and Gillian Yeager and teacher/coach Lee Smith. The name of the group’s city, “Aspira,” not only won the overall state competition, but also earned first place for use of ceramics; first place for water engineering; first place for the essay; honorable mention for best infrastructure; and honorable mention for Best Computer Map.