BOISE, Idaho — A group of five Heritage Middle School 8th graders are waiting to learn how their imagination, design and building abilities stack up with the best in the U.S. after competing at the National Future City Competition.
Hailey Harris, Emma Hall, Haylee Bird, Milah Martin and Hallie Heemeyer represent Team Triton. The Heritage students have been busy the last month showcasing their city and competing against other middle schoolers from across the globe.
Back on Feb. 4, Team Triton captured first place in the Idaho Regional Future City Competition. This year's competition theme was 'A Waste-Free Future,' and students in the 6th, 7th and 8th grade nationwide used science, technology, engineering, and math to combat real-life issues impacting people in 2022 through their city design.
Two Hubble Homes employees served as mentors to all of Heritage's teams in the Future City Competition and then mentored the top three teams to represent the school in the Idaho Regional competition.
According to the Future City Competition website, more than 45,000 students across the U.S. are involved with the event. After winning the Idaho Regional Future City Competition, Harris, Hall, Bird, Martin and Heemeyer went on to win the state title to advance to nationals.
At the national event, Team Triton competed against teams from as far as China. The group of 8th graders said the goal of creating the new city was to learn how to make the future a better place.
"We had to make a city 100 years in the future and then learn the problems of global warming and waste and then make our city waste-free," Team Triton said.
The team's English teacher, Lori Mason, said the effort Team Triton put in over the course of the various competitions sums up the positives of being a devoted educator.
"These girls have just let their intelligence and brilliance shine through and that's what being an educator is all about for me," Mason said.
According to the Future City Competition's website, participants complete five stages before even competing at the regional competition. The stages include a 1,500-word essay, a scale model built from recycled materials, a project plan, presentation video, and a session of answering questions on their city from judges.
"It makes me feel like some day in the future I can make a difference when I put in hard work and effort -- make the world a better place," Team Triton said. "I'm really glad that we could start out as five friends and then get this far and do some really great things."
KTVB will provide an update on how Team Triton placed at the National Future City Competition once the Heritage Middle School team is given their results.
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