Fueling the Future

(The Nsoromma Team along with two of their volunteer engineers and scientists who helped prepare the students.)

For many school-age students, February is a month to reflect upon and celebrate the rich and numerous historical contributions of African Americans in the United States. However, for students at the Nsoromma School where Black history is celebrated year round, February 2007 presented an opportunity to focus on the future as the middle schoolers traveled to Southern Polytechnic State University in Marietta to participate in the Georgia regional Future City Engineering Competition. 

The Nsoromma team ended five months of intense preparation by earning top awards in two areas: 'Best Verbal Presentation' and 'Best Essay.'  In addition, the team's total points for their city, Kurom Mate Masie, earned them third place in the region.   This second-year team competed in the finals against middle school teams from Georgia, Florida and Alabama with much more experience in the prestigious competition. 

"We were prepared," says Rajik Seldon, a 7^th grader. "It was a lot of hard work but we made it to the finals. It was exciting."

While all of the middle schoolers participated in the engineering class and worked on all of the components for the competition, three students, Rajik Seldon, Ariana Abayomi (7^th grade),  and Seshait Vassall (8^th grade), were chosen by their peers and teachers to represent the school at the competition event. 

(Nsoromma team and judges at the competition.)

The class created Kurom Mate Masie in the center of the world – 0° longitude and 5° latitude – on the coast of Ghana in the year 2295.   The city is named after the adinkra symbol that means, "I have heard it and I have kept it."  The students chose this name to represent and describe a city where learning is important.  Schools, universities, museums and libraries are prominent.  In addition, elders are revered for the knowledge and wisdom they have and share freely with the residents. 

Technology is also important in Kurom Mate Masie and the many engineers who work and live there apply the knowledge that they have "learned and kept" to their work.  Technology has a social and ethical component for Nsoromma students and the Future City students were true to the lessons they learned.  They effectively incorporated African principles and values in their city.  For example, streets were laid out in the shape of the adinkra symbol Mate Masie in order to infuse the city with its value. The students also employed principles of sustainable development in their model, relying onancient methods to create future technologies for consuming resources in a renewable and environmentally-friendly manner.  

 "I think we worked well together," says Seshait, noting how their city "employed a lot of technology including hydropower, fuel cells and solar power. But we were just as concerned with its social aspects, like its openness and its opportunities for learning."  

Seshait goes on to say that through the offering of community farms, complementary and holistic health programs, and open education and technology, "all citizens could share in the discovery of new technology and in the improvement of their own city….Our design and model relied heavily on the concept of community," she says, after acknowledging that the sankofa principal was an important part in the creation of their future city. "We envisioned a community where everyone and everything works together."

 The Future City Engineering Competition program is a national competition sponsored by National Engineers Week, a collective effort of engineering associations and major industries.  The program was developed to introduce middle school students to engineering through practical applications of math and science and hands-on work with engineers.  Student teams design a future city using interactive SimCity computer software, build a scale model of a section of their city using recycled materials, and then write a research essay describing an energy strategy that includes fuel cell systems to power their city of the future.   In the final component, teams present their city design, infrastructure, and model to judges who are engineers, architects, city planners, and scientists.  The regional winners compete at the national event in Washington, DC. 

Nsoromma students were surprised with a proclamation from the Atlanta City Council that recognized the honors the students achieved as a result of their hard work in the Future City Engineering Competition.