Tuscaloosa middle schools place in Future City competition; two public teams reach top five

Tuscaloosa City Schools on Feb. 18 recognized students from all five district middle schools who competed in a regional Future City engineering competition; two Tuscaloosa teams finished in the overall top five and every school won at least one special award.

"This is TCS's second year, but it's the first year we've had all five middle schools compete," Taylor Latham, who organized the district effort, told the board. She said last year's event was virtual and this year the in-person competition required teams to present a model, an essay and an oral pitch to panels of judges.

Latham said teams combined science, social studies, math and engineering skills and had a $100 build budget. "You only allowed to spend a hundred dollars total, on anything that you construct within the city," an organizer said during questions, noting teams recycled materials and repurposed motors to create moving parts.

Students described their projects to the board. A student from one team said their model used the Gulf Stream to power a hydroelectric plant that would provide sustainable energy and that the team placed the city near existing metropolises in the design. "My favorite part of the Future City project was mainly around the city and designing, making blueprints, researching," the student told the board.

Board members praised the effort as an example of the district's emphasis on extracurricular STEM opportunities that teach collaboration, communication and critical thinking. District officials said the program will be expanded and are hopeful more trophies will come next year as the program grows.