State’s Top Middle School Students Showcase Innovative Farm-to-Table City Designs
25th Anniversary Future City Competition Comes to Alabama A&M for First Time
Alabama A&M University and AAMUteach in the College of Education, Humanities, and Behavioral Sciences, will host the 25th anniversary edition of the Future City Competition on Saturday, Jan. 24, marking the first time the statewide event has been held on campus. The one-day competition will take place from 7:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. at the T.M. Elmore Gymnasium and Health Sciences Complex.
Candy McGuire, clinical supervisor and instructor for the AAMUteach STEM Program and regional coordinator for the Alabama Future City Competition, said the event highlights the power of early STEM engagement.
“We are excited to welcome Alabama’s best and brightest students to the Hill to showcase their innovation, creativity, teamwork and dedication toward success in STEM education,” McGuire said.
Approximately 30 teams of sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students from across Alabama will present large-scale tabletop city models they have designed and built to address this year’s theme, Farm to Table. The challenge asks students to envision a city that eliminates food waste from production to consumption while keeping residents healthy and safe.
Future City is a nonprofit educational program created by DiscoverE that encourages middle school students to apply math, science and engineering concepts to real-world challenges. Teams spend months developing a city plan, writing an essay and creating a project plan before constructing a model using recycled materials and a budget of no more than $100.
The competition will feature a full day of presentations, judging and awards as teams showcase their city designs. Registration will begin at 7:30 a.m., followed by preliminary round judging from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Lunch will be held from noon to 1:00 p.m. The announcement of the top five finalists is scheduled for 1:45 to 1:50 p.m., with final round presentations from 2:00 to 2:50 p.m. A keynote address will take place from 3:00 to 3:45 p.m., followed by the awards ceremony from 4:00 to 4:55 p.m.
On competition day, students will present and defend their city designs before a panel of judges made up of educators, engineers and industry professionals. Essays and project plans are judged in advance. The first-place team will be announced that day and will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to the national finals in Washington, D.C., where students will compete for top honors, including a potential trip to Space Camp at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center.
The Alabama regional competition is supported by Alabama A&M University faculty and programs, including the AAMUteach STEM programs, as well as regional and national partners such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Huntsville Association of Technical Societies, Bentley Systems and JRC Inc.
Future City gives students a tangible connection between classroom learning and their future careers, helping them see how engineering directly impacts their communities and daily lives. The competition also offers strong visual storytelling, featuring colorful, imaginative cities built from recycled materials and powered by student creativity.
This year’s event signals a new chapter for Alabama A&M, which will serve as the permanent host site for the Alabama Regional Future City Competition going forward.