What is the Future City Competition?

This nationwide program is part of National Engineers Week. It offers students a fun way to learn about engineering and cities of the future.

Who can participate?

The Oregon Regional Competition is open to 7th and 8th grade students enrolled in public, private or homeschools in Oregon. While multiple teams from each school can work participate, each school is limited to 3 teams that can participate in the region-wide finals.

What is the competition format?

Groups of 3 students work as a team under the guidance of a teacher and a practicing engineer. Teams design a city using the popular, award-winning SimCity 3000 software. Then, teams build a scale model of a city section and write an abstract and essay on an assigned engineering topic. The competition culminates with a team presentation in front of judges from the community.

What does the engineer do?

The engineer is to serve as a mentor to the students. The engineer may be involved in some/all phases of the competition as an advisor to provide input and technical assistance. It is important to tie in real life engineering experiences as students work on the competition. The students must do all of the actual work, such as computer design of the city, building the tabletop model, writing the essay, and giving the verbal presentation.

How do I sign-up as a mentor?

You can register by contacting the Oregon Regional Coordinator listed below.

Diana Laboy-Rush, dlaboyrush@gmail.com, 503-675-1897

If I have more questions, whom can I contact?

Contact the Oregon Regional Coordinator or go to the National Future City website.