The club is part of a national organization that challenges children to create cities a hundred years in the future, with each competition year introducing a new requirement. This year, students were tasked with designing an all-electric community that was environmentally healthy. Over the course of three months, the students imagined a new city located on what is now Maui, Hawaii, and won awards in a variety of categories.
The students won awards for Best Use of Building Materials, Most Innovative Infrastructure System, Best Greenway Design, and Best Futuristic Personal Transportation System. In addition, Owen Kompany, one of the club's alumni and now a student at Broadalbin-Perth High School, won a scholarship for high school students who are out of university and once competed for Future City.
They named their city Haleakala, after a volcano in the area that supplies geothermal energy to the community. They also exploited the ocean to generate hydroelectric power and algae to produce biomass that could be used for housing and trade.
The competition consists of writing an essay describing the city, creating a model of it, and participating in a question and answer session with the judges. Students in grades six to eight were able to participate.
The team was coached by elementary science teacher Michael Nasheman, middle school science teacher Emily Priamo, and middle school math teacher Nicole Sullivan, with assistance from technology teacher Nicole Battisti.
Priamo is a BP graduate and completed a student teaching program in her home region. At the time, the current Future City eighth graders were making their first foray into the club as sixth graders.
“So, it's great to be able to follow them all the time and Future City. So, when I started teaching middle school, I joined Nicole Sullivan and Mike [Nacheman] “As advisors to the city of the future,” Priamo said.
Nacheman co-founded the BP chapter of the club with now-retired teacher Anita Stabrowski, who was Priamo's mentor while teaching students.
For the typical portion of the mission, clubs must commit to a budget of about $100. To achieve this, the BP team used all recycled materials.
“So we used bottles and different types of Pringles cans,” Priamo said. “They can use spray foam, chicken wire, things like that. It's kind of cool, because in their future city, they're also using recycled materials and creating a greener project.”
This volatile creativity is what they are most proud of. The DA Collins Award praised them for the best use of building materials, which included a foam ball hovering over a volcano to demonstrate the effect of steam.
“To be able to receive this award again, this year was an exciting moment for the kids,” Priamo said. “It's a great, big prize and the kids love it.”
Although winning is exciting, it's not nearly the best part, Priamo says.
“It gives kids a lot of opportunities to practice things they might not otherwise do and to interact with kids they might not choose to interact with otherwise.”
This year's team members included sixth graders Ivy Rose Heisig, James Higgins III, Owen Hill, Brian House and Amelia Lennon; seventh graders Michael Crosier, Sierra Hill, Glenn Rowland, and Ethan Satz; and eighth-graders Max Cassion, Thomas Fabuskai, Mackenzie Gutung, William Heisig Jr., Isabella Hanson, McKenna Lies, Blake Lawson, Xander Skretkovich, and Amy Waterman.
“Not only do I get to spend time with the kids and help them create this project that they're proud of, but I get to spend time with people who make me want to do it, you know, fun and engaging and can always teach me something,” Priamo said.
