2017 North Texas Regional Competition

Competition Day

28 January 2017
UT Arlington, Nedderman Hall

January 2017 was the culmination of almost 5 months of hard work as 59 teams of middle school students from around North Texas presented their designs for future cities to panels of judges in hopes of winning the first place trip to Washington DC to compete in the Future City national competition in February. This year's special challenge was to solve the problem of public spaces to serve the needs of a diverse population.

In addition to the middle school program, the North Texas Future City Junior program introduces 4-5th grades to engineering. Twelve teams completed their projects and presented models to the judges.

8:00  Check-in
9:30-1:00  Preliminary Round
1:00-2:00  Walk-around, Model viewing
2:00  Announce finalists
2:00-4:00  Final Round (observers welcome)
2:00-3:00  FC Junior Judging
4:00-5:00  Awards Ceremony

Middle Schools and Students

Each year, we strive to improve the program and the experience for the students, teachers and volunteers. This year's event started with with 46 organizations registering, from as far away as Austin and El Dorado, Arkansas. More than six hundred students participated.

The program is open to all public, private, charter, and home-schools, as well as recognized Youth Organizations (such as Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and 4-H Clubs). The small cost of the program to the organizations allows even resource-limited groups to participate.

Arlington ISD
-Carter JH
Cedar Hill ISD
-Bessie Coleman MS
Cleburne ISD
-Wheat MS
Coppell ISD
-Coppell MS North
Crowley ISD
-Summer Creek MS
-Walker Int
Dallas ISD
-A Richards MS
-Rangel YWLS
Eanes ISD
-Hill Country MS
-West Ridge MS
El Dorado SD (AR)
-Washington MS
Fort Worth ISD
-Applied Learning Acad
-McLean MS
-Young Womens' Leadership
Frisco ISD
-Hunt MS
-Pearson MS
-Pioneer Heritage MS
-Scoggins MS
-Staley MS
Harts Bluff ISD
-Harts Bluff MS
HEB ISD
-Donna Park EL
Irving ISD
-Sam Houston MS
Kennedale ISD
-Kennedale JH
McKinney ISD
-Dowell MS
Mount Pleasant ISD
-Wallace MS
Richardson ISD
-Richardson West JH
Thrall ISD
-Thrall MS
Tyler ISD
-Boulter MS
-Dogan MS
Wylie ISD
-Cooper JH
Charter
-Austin Achieve Public Sch, Austin
-Harmony Sch of Business, Dallas
-Harmony Sch of Innovation, FW
-Harmony Sch of Innovation, Garland
-Intl Leadership Texas, Garland
-Rapoport Academy, Waco
-Uplift Luna Prep, Dallas
-Village Tech Sch, Cedar Hill
Homeschools
-Harbor View Acad, Rockwall
-Homeschoolers Excel, Grapevine
Private
-Dallas Academy
-Fort Worth Academy
-The Westwood School, Dallas
Youth Organizations
-Girl Scouts, Forney
-Smarts Club, Frisco
-TCC Generation Hope

Awards and Recognition

The students, teachers and volunteer-mentors work hard for months to create their cities of the future: first in a computer model, then further explored in an essay, realized in their physical model and finally publicly presented in all their amazing detail. The dozens of judges work equally as hard to compile the scores and determine a winner.

Our goal is to have every student leave feeling like a winner. Beyond the traditional first-second-third places, we recognize exceptional accomplishments and innovation with special category awards. Several organizations sponsor these awards highlighting technical disciplines such as civil, engineering, systems engineering and architecture.

FIRST PLACE: SOCIECITY, West Ridge MS, Austin received a trip to Washington DC during National Engineers Week to compete in the national contest where they took First Place.

SECOND AND THIRD PLACES: NEW BEDFORD, Harbor View Academy, Rockwall home school and KUPAN, Dallas Academy, Dallas, received medals, gift cards, and donations to the schools' science and technology programs.

Several local professional organizations recognized outstanding achievement in their fields with special awards:

  • ACEC, Dallas - Excellence in City Design
  • ACEC, Tarrant - Best Residential Zone
  • APA, Midwest & North Central TX - Livable Community Award
  • ASCE, Dallas - Best Transportation to Public Spaces
  • ASQ, Dallas - Excellence in Quality of Life
  • CMAA, North Texas - Innovative Use of Construction Materials & Techniques
  • IEEE, Dallas - Excellence in Renewable Energy/Innovative Power Generation System
  • IEEE, Fort Worth - Excellence in Application of Futuristic Concepts
         - Most Innovative Use of Engineering
         - Best Green Design (Junior Competition)
  • INCOSE, North Texas - Best System Design
  • NCEES - Best Land Surveying
  • PMI, Fort Worth - Riskonator Award
  • SPE, Dallas - Excellence in Energy Efficiency
  • Texas ITE, Dallas & Fort worth - Excellence in Transportation Integration
  • TSPE, Fort Worth - Best in Theme "Power of Public Spaces"
  • TSPE, Preston Trail - Competent and Ethical Practices
  • WEAT, North Texas - Excellence in Overall Water Management
"We LOVE this competition! One of the BEST competitions I have seen out there for students!!!" - teacher

Future City Junior

This was the third year of the North Texas "Future City Junior" competition. This program, introduces 4-5th graders to engineering through an abbreviated version of the full Future City middle-school project. It includes the essay and physical model deliverables.

Eleven schools registered initially. Twelve teams from five of those schools displayed models at UT Arlington. Participating schools:

  • Camey Elem, Lewisville
  • Cooper Elem, Cooper
  • Delaney Elem, Kennedale
  • Harmony School of Business, Dallas
  • Homeschoolers Excel, Aubrey
  • Mareno Elem, Dallas
  • Martha Reid Elem, Arlington
  • McColloch Intermediate, Dallas
  • Patterson Elem, Kennedale
  • Village Tech Schools, Cedar Hill

The NTX Region presented the following awards to these amazing teams:

  • IEEE-Fort Worth - Best Green Design: Crossway City, Martha Reid Elem, Arlington
  • Best Essay: Mingland, Delaney Elem, Kennedale
  • Best Model: Diamond City, Village Tech Schools, Cedar Hill
  • Best Overall Team: Greenfield, Patterson Elem, Kennedale

Volunteers

"Fun opportunity to be involved with young people and remind my self of the excitement, creativity, and spirit of young/future engineers." - Engineer-volunteer

The North Texas Future City© Competition could not take place without the extensive collaboration of educators, corporations, and dedicated volunteers. These volunteers freely give their time and expertise as mentors for student teams, judges, and program organizers. We are indebted to them and the organizations that support them:

Employers:  
Alan Plummer Assoc
Alcon
AT&T
bcWORKSHOP
Bentley Systems Inc
BGE, Inc
BMPC- Bettis Pittsburgh
CBI Labs
ccrd
CH2M
Chagrin Valley Engrg, Ltd
Citigroup Inc
City of Fort Worth
City of Plano
City of Tyler
DFW Intl Airport Board
Denbury Resources
DeShazo Group, Inc
Dunaway Associates
ETTL Engrs & Cons Inc
FW MSH
GE
HW Fahrlander & Assoc
HALFF Assoc
HDR, Inc
HNTB
Huitt-Zollars
Hunt Construction
JCPenney
Jeld Wen
Kimley-Horn
L.A.N., Inc
L3 Technologies
Lennox International Inc
LJA Engineering Inc
Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics
Mannatech, Inc
Materials Processing Inc
Nathan D Maier Consulting Engrs
NCTCOG
Newman Regency Group
NewStarts
NHP Foundation
Novartis
Ohio EPA
Oncor Electric Delivery
Orchestra tec
Pape-Dawson Engineers, Inc
Pariveda Solutions
Parkhill, Smith and Cooper, Inc
PBK Architects
Pediatrics After Hours
Perceptive Engineering
Pioneer Natural Resources
Priefert Complex Designs
Raytheon
Stantec
TCC-South Campus
TSMC
University of Michigan
UT Arlington
UT Dallas
US Army Corp of Engineers
USN Naval Facilities Engrg Cmd
Whitesettlement ISD
Associations:   
-AAP
-ACCE
-ACI
-ACS
-AFS
-AGU
-AIA
-AIAA
-AIChE
-AICP
-AIH
-AMS
-APA
-AREMA
-ASABE
-ASBPA
-ASCE
-ASDSO
-ASHE
-ASME
-ASQ
-ASTM
-AWWA
-CFM
-Chi Epsilion
-CNU
-DRSEF
-ENV SP
-EWB
-HRES
-IEEE
-IESNA
-IIE
-INCOSE
-ISA
-ITE
-ITS
-NAEP
-NSBE
-Phi Beta Kappa
-Pi Tau Sigma
-PMI
-RECA
-SAME
-SEAoT
-SFTE/SETP
-SHPE
-SME
-SPE
-SPIE
-SWANA
-SWE
-TCEL
-TDA
-TFMA
-TPI
-TPWA
-TSPE
-ULI
-WATT
-Wildlife Soc
-WISE

Sponsors

In addition to the invaluable time donated by the volunteers, we received generous contributions from several organizations. These contributions guaranteed a memorable experience for all student competitors by underwriting the awards and competition expenses.

  • Shell
  • Lockheed Martin
  • Summit Consultants, Inc
  • Jeld-Wen, Inc
  • UT Arlington
  • Electronic Arts-Maxis
  • DiscoverE Foundation
  • Summit Research Inc.
  • IEEE, Fort Worth
  • ACEC, Dallas
  • ACEC, Tarrant
  • APA, Midwest & North Central TX
  • ASCE, Dallas
  • IEEE, Dallas
  • INCOSE, North Texas
  • SPE, Dallas
  • TexITE, Dallas & Fort Worth
  • TSPE, Preston Trail
  • WEAT, North Texas
  • ASQ, Dallas
  • CMAA, North Texas
  • NCEES
  • PMI, Fort Worth
  • TSPE, Fort Worth

 

"It takes a lot to run and make a city and it takes teamwork. Plus engineering is awesome." - student