Homeschool Team Wins Regional Future City Competition

In January, our team of homeschooled 6th to 8th graders competed in the Future City Competition for the Nevada region and won 1st place overall, becoming the first homeschool team in Southern Nevada to do so. In a few weeks, they will travel to Washington, DC to represent Nevada at the national Future City Finals!

What is Future City?

Future City is a national competition run by the DiscoverE organization that aims to spark interest in engineering among middle school students. Each year, an annual theme is announced, and students spend the competition season - from August through January - designing a city set 100 years in the future that addresses a real-world problem related to that theme.

Students have several deliverables to complete along the way, including writing a 1500-word essay describing their city and solutions, building a scale model of their city using primarily recyclables, and finally, giving a 7-minute presentation followed by an 8-minute Q&A session in front of a panel of judges. Throughout this project, students develop skills in writing, math, public speaking, and teamwork, as they learn about the engineering design process and how cities work.

Our Experience

When our children were younger, my husband and I saw a booth for Future City at the local Science Expo, and thought it would be a great fit once our kids were old enough. Two years ago, when my son reached middle school age, I was reminded of it again at the science expo, and decided to form a team with friends from our homeschool co-op. The project aligned perfectly with my son’s interests and with the kind of project-based learning we value in our homeschool.

As a first-time team, the project was often overwhelming in scope for the students and me. I spent most of my time encouraging the team to get to a finished product in time to meet deadlines, while trying to understand each requirement. The annual challenge was to design a floating city to adapt to rising sea levels. Although the theme was “Above the Current,” I sometimes felt we were in over our heads.

We had no expectation of winning; we were just excited to participate in something that the students had worked toward for months. We also knew we were competing against many public and private school teams with years of experience and past wins. For that reason, we were very surprised they placed 2nd overall out of 16 teams, and were the first homeschool group to place as finalists in the Nevada region.

After that experience, my son was eager to compete once more during his last year as a middle schooler. While a few teammates had aged out, we welcomed some enthusiastic 6th graders to the team. The second year was easier in some ways, since some students had experience and knew what to expect. In other ways, it was much harder because the students felt the pressure of doing at least as well at competition as they did before. The bar was set high from the start.

This year’s theme, Farm to Table, challenged teams to design a city that eliminated food waste while incorporating principles of regenerative agriculture, and circular economy, while learning about and using the engineering design process and project management skills. They learned a lot about our food, waste, and transportation systems along the way.

Homeschooling gave us the flexibility to work around busy schedules and pause other subjects as deadlines approached. This allowed students to focus deeply on completing such a complex project. They were able to go on several field trips related to the topic as well, which grew their understanding of complex systems, and how they work in reality.

There were many long days of team disagreements, tired kids, missed family dinners, carpools to and from meetings, a few close calls with power tools, and paint on my walls and floor, while my house was covered in literal trash, but we all persevered. The students learned how to work through frustration, negotiate their ideas, and push forward when they felt like quitting.

Competition Day

After many months of research, planning, writing, designing, building, and practicing, the students were ready for competition day. On January 24th, they presented their city in the morning judging round, spoke with special awards judges on the show floor, and answered questions from spectators. After lunch, the four finalist teams were announced.

Finalist teams advanced to a second round of presenting and judging in front of a full audience of participants, teachers, and families. The competition was intense with very talented teams, led by experienced teachers and mentors. Although our students were nervous, they did their best and were thrilled to be named 1st place winners at the end of the day!

While winning was an accomplishment, the real value of the experience lay in the skills the students gained through participation: confidence in public speaking, resilience in problem-solving, and pride in seeing a long-term project through to completion.

Next Steps

The team is now preparing to compete at the national level over Presidents’ Day weekend in Washington, DC. For many of the students, this will be their first time visiting our nation’s capital. They will have the opportunity to present alongside the top Future City teams from across the country. They are excited and looking forward to being a part of this.

We are grateful for the encouragement and support of our local homeschool community throughout this journey and are proud of what these students have accomplished through dedication, teamwork, and a love of learning.

Written by: Karissa Lundt