Building the Future: Derby Students Shine at Future Cities Competition

We already know our sixth graders are one strong bunch of #CreativeInnovators, but their performance at the Future Cities Eastern Regional and New England Regional Competitions at the Wentworth Institute of Technology proved it! Derby teams took home 14 special awards...and one team earned second place overall at the New England Regional Finals. 🏆

Future Cities is a national project-based competition that hones project management and engineering design skills. This year's “Farm to Table" theme challenged students to design a futuristic city that eliminates food waste and keeps citizens healthy and safe. As part of their Engineering and Design course, teams worked together to conceptualize, write about, and finally design their cities using recycled materials.

Students were judged by a panel of professionals—including civil engineers, missile engineers, architects—on aspects of their city such as infrastructure, zoning, inclusivity, innovation, and transport systems. Derby students won big, taking first, second, and third place in the Eastern Regional Competition. The first place team, which created a city called "Horizon Bay," then progressed to the New England Regional Final where they took second place overall.

Horizon Bay was founded in Australia in 2063, and stands for "Healthy, Organic, Resilient, Integrated, Zero Waste, Environmentally Friendly, Network." The city uses vertical farming to produce food for all citizens living in the city. Robot farmers harvest food fresh from the gardens located on every building and deliver the food with impressive speed. Air taxis and other transportation services get all 3.5 million citizens of Horizon Bay anywhere they need to go.

Additional special awards won across our teams included: Best Model, Best Waste Management, Best Presentation, Best Essay, Best Health System, Most Resilient City, Farm to Table Award, Best Energy System, Most Innovative Recycled Material Use, Most Inclusive City, Best Public Recreation Space, Best Public Safety, Best Transportation System, Best Waste Management System.