The future is in their hands – Stella Schola students address urban sustainability in STEM contest

Congratulations go out to Green Gladiators (Yilin Guo, Thomas Laurino, Hasan Salahuddin, Yotam Zur, Hutch Cockrell and Saarth Bhargava), the 8th grade team from Stella Schola Middle School who recently won the Washington State Future City contest. The team is advised by Stella Schola teacher Judy Ronning-Larson. That win qualified them to compete in Washington D.C. February 16-19 at the national competition where they were awarded the special Professional Engineering Award. The team thanks valued community partner, PSE electrical engineer, Alison Klima. In 2024, 66,000 students competed from over 1,600 middle schools representing regions all across the nation and included multiple teams from China.

What is Future City?
Future City is a hands-on cross-curricular educational program that brings STEM to life for students in grades 6 through 8. From the Future City website: “Using the Engineering Design Process (EDP) and project management skills, students showcase their solutions to a citywide sustainability issue. This year’s challenge asks students to build 100% electrically powered city with energy generated from sources that keep your citizens and the environment healthy and safe.”