Welcome to the Idaho Region of the Future City!
This web page contains information about the Idaho Regional Competition for interested students, teachers, parents and volunteers.
About Future City Future City™Competition is in it’s 20th year in Idaho, is a free educational program for sixth, seventh and eighth-grade students run entirely by volunteers throughout the state. It is a national program that fosters an interest in math, science and engineering through hands-on, real world applications.
The Future City Program combines an engineering challenge with a “hands-on” application as students present their vision of a city of the future by working in teams along with their teacher and a volunteer engineer mentor. Teams of students (minimum of three per team) will perform the following tasks:
Students research and write an essay on a given engineering topic. The 2023-2024 theme is Electrify Your Future! The challenge: Design a 100% electrically powered city with energy generated from sources that keep your citizens and the environment healthy and safe. The students build a model of a portion of their city to scale using recycled materials. Models may be a single large model OR multiple model segments.
Teams will then give an up to 7-minute presentation about their city.
In a City Q&A teams will have a 10-minute question-and-answer session with judges from the engineering, technical, and city design fields. Sessions will be conducted live in person.
Teams complete a project plan to help them plan and organize their project.
The preparation starts in August-October. Regional competitions are in January.
Competition Day
Regional Competition Date: January 20th, 2024
More info coming soon!
Regional Sponsors
FAQs
The Future City Competition is supposed to be realistic but also brainstorming ideas for the future so how do you balance reality and creativity?
The students will have been questioned during their presentation about their ideas and any research they did into the possibilities of new technology in the future. Anything is possible but the students should show that they ideas were thought out as to how and why there idea could work and not just because it magically will. The essay and abstract are also good reality checks and the engineer mentor and teacher should work together to get the students to use reasoning and critical thinking in their design.
Can younger students help in building the city?
Younger students are welcome to participate in the computer city design, model design and construction, and essay, however only 6th, 7th and 8th grade students may present at the competition and older students are not allowed to participate at any time throughout the competition.
How many teams can a school bring to the Idaho Regional Competition?
Each school will be permitted to send three teams to the Idaho Regional Competition. All of the teams will give their presentations to groups of judges during the preliminary morning competition. The top five schools will then be asked to give their presentation before the entire audience and another panel of judges to determine the winner and top finishers in the regional competition. Only one team per school will be able to advance to the final round of the regional competition.
Our team started late (did not register until the end of October). Is there any flexibility in the submittal deadlines?
We no longer accept late submissions.
How can I support Future City Idaho?
The Future City Competition is a proven program that helps encourage students to pursue engineering careers and helps teachers meet science, math, social studies, arts, and language art curriculum requirements.
Please support this great educational program by sending a check made out to the Idaho Society of Professional Engineers Foundation to:
Idaho Future City
c/o ISPE Foundation
PO Box 170239
Boise, ID 83717-0239
Sponsors will be recognized at the following levels:
Bronze ($100)
– thank you letter
– name in program as a sponsor
Silver ($200)
– same as Bronze level and
– business card ad in the program
– name on the web site
Gold ($300)
– same as Silver level and ad on the website
– sponsor a Special Award
(you name the award, the criteria, and provide judging at the competition)
Future City provides plaque to winning school.
Platinum ($500)
– same as Gold level and
– may hang a banner at the competition
– may have a table in the lobby area at the competition
– special recognition at the competition
– special recognition on the web site
Contact Us
Co-Regional Coordinators: Lynn Olson – LynnOlson1@boisestate.edu & Mariah Fowler – mfowler@forsgren.com
School Recruitment Coordinator: Lynn Olson – LynnOlson1@boisestate.edu
Mentor Coordinator: Lynn Olson – LynnOlson1@boisestate.edu
Judging/Scoring Coordinator: Mariah Fowler – mfowler@forsgren.com
Emcee and Media Coordinator: Kenny Dodd – kdodd@parametrix.com
Fundraising-Special Awards Coordinator: Lauren Nuxoll – lnuxoll@kittelson.com and Hannah Long – Hhannah.long@consoreng.com