Eagan middle school students rewarded for forward thinking
Black Hawk team heads to Washington, D.C., competition
Black Hawk Middle School team Vita Nova will compete Feb. 21 in the national Future Cities competition in Washington, D.C. The team took first place at the regional competition Jan. 14 at the University of Minnesota. Photo submitted
by Jessica Harper
Thisweek Newspapers
One group of Eagan middle school students has been rewarded with a trip to Washington, D.C., for thinking of the future.
A team of seventh- and eighth-grade boys from Black Hawk Middle School took first place at the Future City Minnesota regional competition Jan. 14 at the University of Minnesota. The seven-member team, called Vita Nova, also won the Best Essay award at the competition.
Now the team is headed to D.C. on Feb. 21 to compete in the national tournament.
“I think it will be exciting to see all the different teams,” said Will Cobbett, a seventh-grader at Black Hawk.
The competition, sponsored by the National Engineers Week Foundation, requires students to research, design and create a model of a future city with the aid of a engineering specialist.
The model must be built to scale and include infrastructure such as transportation, water treatment processes, and heating and cooling distribution. All these aspects were required this year to be energy efficient and eco-friendly.
Members of Vita Nova decided the best way to achieve this would be to create a fictitious sea-side city near a dormant volcano.
The city called Ki Vita Nova, which is 150 years in the future and uses a geothermal system to generate energy and treat water. Energy is also generated using a solar satellite.
Green features don’t end there. Every skyscraper includes a green roof, and transportation systems are powered using magnets, which enable buses and cars to float along the roads.
Vita Nova and other teams were given seven minutes to present their concepts at the competition.
The team’s presenters will be the only members competing at nationals.
Prior to building a model of their futuristic city, team members worked with Eagan city engineer Russ Matthys to learn more about how an actual city’s infrastructure is planned and created.
“He was so helpful in lowering their anxiety level by helping them feel prepared,” said David Herem, Future Cities advisor and teacher at Black Hawk.
Vita Nova member and eighth-grader Collin Westgard said he enjoyed working with Matthys.
“I liked learning about the role of an engineer,” he said. “I plan to be an engineer when I grow up.”
They also created a digital model and wrote a 1,000-word essay on renewable energy. Then they wrote a sales pitch for their concept.
The project took the team about four months to complete. Team members agreed that the hardest part of the project was finding compromise during the design process.
Black Hawk has participated in the competition for about 12 years. This is the second time a Black Hawk team has advanced to nationals in that time.
Four other teams from the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan School District competed at the Minnesota regional competition and all four earned awards.
Jessica Harper is at jessica.harper@ecm-inc.com.
