On Saturday, Jan. 24, Wildwood hosted the Southern California Regional Future City competition, a cross-curricular educational program where middle school students imagine, design and build cities of the future. The Wildwood community can be especially proud as two teams of students scored first and second places in the competition. Winning the 2015 Future City Southern Regional competition and going on to the national competition in Washington D.C. are Akwe M., Arianna R., and Lucy B. The winning team was coached by science teacher Deborah Orlik. Second place went to students Sam C., Alison B., Josie B. and Katie K., coached by middle school science teacher Paul Waked.

The competition theme this year was urban agriculture. Gearing up for the competition, over four months, students worked in teams to design a virtual city using SimCity software; research and write an essay using the theme; build a model of their city; write a brief narrative about their city; and then present all of their work to a panel of judges. Our 8th graders were the fortunate benefactors of generous consultation with architects and Wildwood parents Dan Gallagher and Stacey Greenwald, who donated many hours helping them with their models.

Over 75 students, their teachers, mentors and many of their parents crowded the hallways of Wildwood’s middle and upper school campus eager to share their efforts with the judges and one another. Twenty-two student teams represented more than a dozen schools or youth organizations, with some participating schools traveling to Wildwood from as far away as San Diego. Wildwood upper school humanities teacher Deb Christenson, a judge for one of the 12 special awards, observed, “I had the pleasure of speaking to all of the teams and many of their teachers. It became obvious that the level of knowledge that these middle school students demonstrated went beyond traditional science concepts.“ She continued, “Students were able to apply math and science concepts to real-world problems, like how their city would be accessible to citizens with disabilities such as hearing impairment or the use of a wheel chair.” Students used creativity as well as problem solving in designing their models, using materials that ranged from Play-Doh models of cabbage and pea plants to wooden towers that represented residential, commercial and industrial buildings.

Judges applauded the efforts of students during their formal presentations. UCLA engineering student Blake Wyatt scored virtual cities before the day of competition and then judged another special award for sustainable buildings. He expressed his appreciation for the presentation skills of many of the students, especially Wildwood students, as they displayed their ability to think on their feet.

Judges included Wildwood parents Leslie and James Wilson, Stacey Greenwald, and Ramin Kolahi. They all expressed their enthusiasm for the hard work that students demonstrated during their presentations. Alumnus Shere Disraeli ‘09 returned to Wildwood as a judge to present a special award for sustainable food production. Additional support for the day’s events came from parent volunteers who handled check-in, hospitality, and generally kept the day running smoothly.  Our sincerest gratitude extends to tour parent volunteers, including Craig and Lisa Cooper, Traci Ferguson, Nina Jacobson, Connie Butler, Brent Bradley, Andrew Sachs, Jaclyn Lieber, Ashley Kramer and Betty Bales.

Director of Middle School Dan Glass presented the awards at the end of the day, with over a dozen groups receiving honors. He congratulated Deborah Orlik as the coordinator of this year’s regional competition and tireless advocate of middle school students and their ability to solve complex problems, like imagining their futures.

Now, on to Nationals in February!