The IEEE Chicago Section once again sponsored an award for Future Cities this year.  Future Cities is the competition for 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th graders where students design their version of a future city requiring them to build scale models, write essays, and give oral presentations. The Chicago Regional day of the competition was Saturday, January 20, 2024.  Before the pandemic, there were 20 to 30 teams competing in the Chicago Regional each year.  During the pandemic when the competition went virtual, the number of teams dropped to 7 or 8.  This is the second year the competition returned to in person.  We were back up to 12 teams from 9 schools.  It was good to see the competition beginning to recover.

In addition to the main event judging, special awards were provided by 6 professional societies.  Our Chicago Section sponsored an award for the “Best Electrical/Electronic Solution for Improving the Quality of City Life”.  Our award considers innovative thinking in five categories pertaining to electricity.  Serving as judges for the IEEE were Norm Phoenix (Lead Judge) and Gary Oswald.

This year’s theme was “Electrify Your Future”.  Every team had great answers regarding electricity making our job more difficult.  The main competition concentrated on electricity production.  We look at both production and use.  Use of electricity is where we could distinguish a difference.  The IEEE award was given to the student team from Montini Catholic School with their city “Ski Striker City”.  Individual plaques and a $25 Amazon Gift Card were given to the three presenting students along with a large plaque for the school to display.  Montini did not win any of the main awards making it a little nicer that they distinguished themselves for ours.  The winner of the overall competition was St. Michael Parish School with their city “Paable City”.  As the First Place Winner, St Michael Parish School went on to represent the Chicago Region at the National Competition.

Next year’s theme is “Above the Current”.  It will require the 2024/2025 Future City teams to consider water as a critical resource.  In addition to IEEE special judges, they always need regular judges for the main competition.  The Chicago Regional Future City Competition gives the judges 1 PDH toward their Professional Engineering License continuing education requirement.  It is just one more reason to consider volunteering next year.