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Future Ready: DeSoto Intermediate Students Take on Food Waste at Future City
Posted Date: 01/28/26 (12:17 PM)
Future City is a statewide competition that is held annually for students in grades 6-12 separated into 2 divisions - middle school and high school. The top team in each division from each state continues on to the national competition in Washington D.C. at a later date. Future City starts with a question - How can we make the world a better place? To answer it, students imagine, research, design, and build cities of the future that showcase their solution to a citywide sustainability issue. This year's theme was "Farm to Table." The students were challenged with designing a city set in the future that eliminates food waste from farm to table and keeps their citizens healthy and safe.
A group of five 6th grade GATE students decided to participate in this year's Future City competition. The team consisted of Piper Coller, Mara Jurisic, Lark Heater, Elsa Benetti, and Ruby Markus. They spent the last 4 months researching, brainstorming, planning, and building their city that would solve these problems for future generations. During this time, they met with two mentors consisting of an organic farmer and a city planner to help them plan their city and research solutions for eliminating food waste.
On Saturday, January 17th, three of the team members presented their city, named Green Gables, at the Future City Competition in Ames, Iowa on the Iowa State University Campus. At the competition, Piper, Mara, and Lark presented their city to a panel of judges, giving a 7 minute presentation on the elements of their city and what solutions they came up with for eliminating food waste. They then spent 10 minutes answering questions from the judges about their community.
When the students were not presenting, they had the opportunity to attend a STEM fair set up in the Student Innovation Center where they could explore different engineering careers by participating in hands-on activities, watch a glassblowing demonstration and get a picture with Cy the Cyclone! It was a very successful day with the team receiving a great deal of positive feedback from the judges and spectators in regards to the livability of their community and the immense detail they put into their city.
Congratulations Team Green Gables on a job well done!
On Saturday, January 17th, three of the team members presented their city, named Green Gables, at the Future City Competition in Ames, Iowa on the Iowa State University Campus. At the competition, Piper, Mara, and Lark presented their city to a panel of judges, giving a 7 minute presentation on the elements of their city and what solutions they came up with for eliminating food waste. They then spent 10 minutes answering questions from the judges about their community.
When the students were not presenting, they had the opportunity to attend a STEM fair set up in the Student Innovation Center where they could explore different engineering careers by participating in hands-on activities, watch a glassblowing demonstration and get a picture with Cy the Cyclone! It was a very successful day with the team receiving a great deal of positive feedback from the judges and spectators in regards to the livability of their community and the immense detail they put into their city.
Congratulations Team Green Gables on a job well done!