P.E.I. students heading to Washington, D.C., for engineering competition finals

Students from the Mount Academy in Charlottetown will be heading to Washington, D.C., to compete in the Future City competition finals in February.

The competition challenges students to solve real-world problems through engineering.  

"It's really about planning and getting students interested in engineering and learning about different types of engineering," said Wayne Savage, the teacher who is supervising the Mount Academy team project.

Grade 8 students Mitchell and Marissa Stewart and Kale Hunter have been selected to represent the school.

Engineer judges

The team won the regional competition over the weekend, which pushed them into the next round of the competition.  

The kids really did an excellent job and they enjoyed the whole experience.— Wayne Savage

Engineers from UPEI and Engineers P.E.I. were brought in to judge the regional competition and decide who would continue.

Teams from Ontario and Prince Edward Island will be competing in the finals in Washington.

"The kids really did an excellent job and they enjoyed the whole experience of it," Savage said.

Powerful power grid

The students have been preparing for the competition since September, working together with classmates to imagine, research and design their vision of a power grid capable of withstanding and recovering from the impact of potential natural disasters.

The Mount Academy team chose East Lake, a city near Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba, as the city where they would envision their power grid.

The team put together a plan which would ensure East Lake would be prepared for specific potential possible effects of global warming in the region, like flooding.

Students competing from across the globe

To compete, the team had to put together a virtual city presentation, a project plan, write an essay and build a model of their future city.

"At the end of the day ... the students learn about engineering and what is involved and what kind of impact they have on our cities and our society," Savage said.

The Mount Academy students will join students from across the globe, including the U.S. and China, for the finals on Feb. 15.

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