Florida Power & Light Company invites South Florida's youth to journey into the future by participating in the annual Future City Competition™. The competition, which provides seventh and eighth graders with an opportunity to create their own city of the future, is an innovative program in which students apply their imagination, math and science skills, while gaining an understanding of how engineering principles apply in the real world.

"We're pleased to present the Future City Competition for a second year," said Paul Evanson, president of FPL. "In addition to getting very high marks from students and engineers, this competition reflects FPL's ongoing commitment to support education, the environment, and economic development."

The John D. MacArthur Campus of Florida Atlantic University has joined FPL as the educational co-sponsor for this year's competition. "A university is a natural setting for the culmination of this competition," said Dr. Robert Huckshorn, vice president of FAU's northern campuses. "Future City Competition showcases the best and the brightest of today's young people. These are our future students, and Florida's future engineers and employees."

Registration information

Middle schools throughout South Florida are encouraged to register now so students may begin the project as early as possible. After teams complete the competition's requirements at their schools, they will present their future cities at the regional finals at FAU on January 20, 2001. The first place team from South Florida will travel to Washington, D.C. during National Engineers Week (February 19-25) to participate in the national finals.

"Our students jumped right in and were excited to learn and apply science and engineering principles," noted Candria Eddinger, technology teacher at South Miami Middle School, whose students placed first in last year's south Florida competition. "The Future City Competition offers a valuable tool for educators to use in the classroom."

"This competition helps students understand what engineering is all about," said Ralph Granja, FPL engineer and mentor for last year's second place team. "It's good, clean fun with a challenge."

Schools, engineers and volunteers are needed

Schools, engineers and volunteers are encouraged to register for the South Florida Future City competition now. Schools must register by October 13, 2000. For more information, contact the competition's regional coordinator at FPL by calling 561-694-3133 or by visiting FPL's web site at http://www.fpl.com/. Information on the national competition is available at http://www.futurecity.org/.

Florida Power & Light Company is the principal subsidiary of FPL Group, Inc. , one of the nation's largest providers of electricity-related services with annual revenues of more than $6 billion. The company serves 3.8 million customer accounts in Florida. FPL Energy, LLC, FPL Group's U.S. and international energy-generating subsidiary, is a leader in producing electricity from clean and renewable fuels.

Competition overview

Students begin by building cities of the future using SimCity™ computer software donated from the Maxis Corporation, which allows them to experiment with where and how to integrate power plants, factories, parks, transportation systems, housing, schools, and other components of the urban fabric. From their computer maps, teams will then build models of their respective cities that illustrate engineering concepts and futuristic ideas using less than $100 materials. Recycling is encouraged. Teams also will prepare 500-word essays on how to build a communications system. Prior to the regional competition, volunteers will judge each team's computer city, map, and written essay. The Palm Beach chapter of the Florida Engineering Society is a judging co-sponsor.

The FPL-presented portion of National Engineers Week Future City Competition will culminate January 20, 2001, at the John D. MacArthur Campus of FAU (Jupiter), where students will verbally present their future city designs and models to panels of judges. Each team member of the top three teams will receive individual prizes courtesy of FPL.

Last year more than 750 schools and 18,000 students nationwide participated in 21 regional competitions. The 2000 South Florida winners were: South Miami Middle School, first place; Epiphany Catholic School (Miami), second place; St. Michael Lutheran School (Ft. Myers), third place.

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SOURCE: Florida Power & Light Company