When most middle school students think about the future, thoughts focus on media technology, robotic science, relationships with friends and career paths. Students in the Future Cities Competition learned to consider a wider scope of ideas over a longer range of time and used their imaginations to propose solutions to potential problems of the future.

This year’s focus was “Providing an Affordable Living Space for People Who Have Lost Their Home Due to a Disaster or Financial Emergency.”

Seventh-and eighth-graders from 16 area schools worked with teachers and engineers to design and build their ideas of a future city that addressed this issue. Requirements included an essay, a city model made using the SimCity 4 Deluxe software, and a tabletop 3D-scaled model made out of recycled materials for display at the event. These were presented to engineer judges at the regional competition Saturday at Mount St. Mary Academy in Kenmore.

First prize went to the team from St. Mary’s School of Swormville –students Caitlyn Leong, Michael Pearl and Anna Herberger, along with teacher Rosanne Davis and volunteer engineer mentor Ronald W. K. Leong.

The prize for their city of Mihafy Adana, which means “to sustain peace,” is a trip to the 18th annual Future Cities National Finals from Feb. 13 to 17 in Washington, D. C.

Second place went to Solace City of Christ the King School; third place to Eco Falls from students at St. Francis of Assisi School in Tonawanda; fourth place to Genesis from Williamsville’s Transit Middle School; and fifth place to Terramica from Ss. Peter and Paul School in Williamsville.

Immersed in the atmosphere of a real engineers’ convention, the students described the technology incorporated in their cities to onlookers and judges.

Pantherville, created by students from St. Peter School in Lewiston, featured the Pantherdome. The idea was loosely based on the Superdome in New Orleans. In case of a hurricane, people could leave their homes and seek shelter in the dome, which contained all the schools, library, grocery stores and emergency supplies that people would need.

“The houses are built with plastic and metal, along with recycled materials from Garbage Island,” explained Maria Gabriele.

Students from St. Christopher School in the Town of Tonawanda, who created the city of Asiavik, Alaska, believe their ideas could have helped Haiti in its recent disaster. This city is protected from earthquakes with underground shocks and nonpermanent houses. The houses would have hay bale insulation surrounding foundations that could sustain tremors, so in the aftermath, people could use the existing foundations as a jump-start to rebuilding. Another idea they incorporated was using algae for biodiesel fuel instead of the more common corn source. Algae can be used completely, does not take food from hungry people, and is powerful enough to run the subway, which actually moved in the tabletop model.

“We put a lot of work into this,” said team member Ashley Arsenault. “We stayed after school really late every Friday to work, ordered pizza sometimes, and then put more days into it as the competition grew closer.”

Namaste, which means “hello” in India, is also the name of one of Transit Middle School’s cities.

“We invite people who survived disasters to come to our island, saying ‘namaste’ to a fresh start,” said Teagan Faran. The houses are made from bamboo, and families conveniently live close to their work. No cars are needed, but rental bikes are available throughout the island.

When trying to transfer their ideas into the SimCity Model, Sally Yi from Transit Middle mentioned one obstacle: “The computer program did not give us enough choices for all the ideas we had. We incorporated water for energy in the tabletop model and essay to fully show our city’s features.”

Khloros is the tri-level island that students at the Williamsville Schools’ Casey Middle designed. If it were to be made into reality, people could expect it to take 10 years, but students do see it as a possibility. One unique feature is the use of “piezoelectric” energy, which turns the pressure from walking into energy for the city.

Penny Li explained another feature: The irrigation system.

“We have a system of pipes that controls the rain. People will know when the rain is expected to fall, so they can plan accordingly and not go out walking when they know rain is coming,” said Penny.

Laura Rumschik is a senior at Mount St. Mary Academy.