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The annual contest aims to direct young people toward careers in science and technology. |
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It is sponsored by a consortium of professional and technical societies and some major U.S. corporations. |
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The students-built tabletop scale models of their designs using recycled materials, costing no more than $100. |
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The teams also had to write essays about their solutions, |
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explain their ideas to the crowd and answer the questions asked by a six-member expert panel. |
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Gregory Bentley, CEO of Bentley Systems Incorporated, one of the competition's major sponsors, |
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said this year’s theme was ’urban transportation’ -- an increasingly important issue for the world's cities. |
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“We sort of have the first generation, I think now, in the United States, |
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who are not committed to having a car to be a part of their life,” |
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Eighth-graders from the southern state of Georgia -- David Straub, Katherine Barri and Rebecca North |
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-- envisioned their city far into the future. |
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David said they predicted that public transport would be effortless and eco-friendly. |
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“It’s a new system that focuses, has a focus on magnetic frequency, |
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which will allow people to levitate and float along the magnetic fields,” |
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Leila Mezza, Oha Hassan and Mousa Seid from Houston, Texas, |
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imagined a city in Brazil in 2084, with transport relying on electric cars. |
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“These garages have photovoltaic cells |
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and whenever our cars are parked over here, they get their energy to drive later on," |
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Bentley said the Future City competition, now in its 22nd year, is deliberately focused on young teens. |
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“Because at that age in the United States, they have to elect the math courses, the advanced math courses. |
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If they don’t at that age, they will never be an engineer,” |
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The grand prize of $7,500 went to St. John Lutheran School in Michigan. |
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The team members won a trip to U.S. Space Camp. |
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Even if they didn't win, the experience of working on an engineering project |
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has encouraged many of the kids to think about a career in science and technology. |
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One of them is Eric Swyler from New Mexico, who said, |
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“I plan to become a scientist of some kind, but I’m not sure exactly what kind.” |
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Swyler does not have to worry. |
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He has plenty of time to decide. |
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