Decorah Middle School team wins a trip to the National Future City Competition

Sofia team members (L-R) Grace Gerleman, Allison Pavlovec, Dalton Hemesath and Adrian Huang

For the first time in school history, a Decorah Middle School team has won the State Future City Competition and will represent Iowa at the national competition.
 
The team of eighth graders Grace Gerleman, Dalton Hemesath, Adrian Huang and Allison Pavlovec topped 52 other teams to win the state trophy and an all-expenses paid trip to Washington D.C. February 17th-- 20th.
 
The team based their scale model city on Sofia, Bulgaria, and focused on increasing mobility for older citizens. After finding that Bulgaria is one of the most polluted countries in the European Union, they designed an innovative electric energy and transportation system that would allow citizens to move more freely around the city. They also implemented softer materials for flooring and sidewalks to reduce joint strain. They were awarded the special engineering prize Most Innovative Power Distribution System from the technical professional organization IEEE
 
A DMS second team consisting of eighth graders Drew Chamberlain, Izaak Eichinger, Eliot Kleckner, Anya Lovstuen, and Ruby Sullivan won Best City Essay and placed third in preliminary judging. Due to a rule that only one team from a school is allowed to move on to the finals round, this team was not able to compete for one of the top five awards.

 

           

Vjecan team members (L-R) Ruby Sullivan, Drew Chamberlain, Eliot Kleckner and Anya Lovstuen