Franklin Middle School's Future Cities Team Takes 2nd in State

Congratulations to the 2016 Future Cities Team at Franklin Middle School in CUSD 200! They took Second Place in the state of Illinois at the Chicago regional competition on Saturday January 9, 2016. This year’s topic was “Waste not, want not.” In addition to second place overall, the students also earned:

• First Place for the Best Virtual City.
• First Place for the Go to 2040 Plan Implementation.
• an Integrated Highway Design Award.

“Future Cities is a cross-curricular program that lets students in the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades do the things engineers do such as identify problems, brainstorm ideas, design solutions, test and retest, build and then share the results,” according to the Future Cities website. Ms. Liz Simpson teaches Science at Franklin Middle School and is the coach of this extracurricular activity. She has been coaching the activity for 10 years and believes that Future Cities is an active and engaging opportunity for students outside of the classroom. It offers a collaborative yet academic setting for students to utilize and enhance their STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) skills. Students who take part on this team are focused and dedicated to achieving their goal. Their season runs from September through January with several meetings throughout the week after school and every Saturday morning. In order to register for the competition, students must complete the following:

• a Sim City submission.
• a 1500 word city description.
• build a 3D model.
• prepare an engaging presentation.
• complete a Project Plan.

Congratulations to our Franklin Middle School Future Cities Team! Thank you, Ms. Simpson, for offering your time to engage students in an academic activity and competition. We can’t wait to see what you create next year!