The mission of the National Engineers Week Future City Competition is to provide a fun and exciting educational engineering program for seventh- and eighth-grade students that combines a stimulating engineering challenge with a "hands-on" application to present their vision of a city of the future.

This will be accomplished by:

• Fostering engineering skills, such as teamwork, communication and problem solving skills;
• Providing interaction among students, teachers, and engineer mentors;
• Informing the community about the multi-disciplines within the engineering profession;
• Inspiring students to explore futuristic concepts and careers in engineering.

St. Paul of the Cross sent a team to the regional competition at UIC on Saturday, January 26. The team had previously designed a future city on the computer program, Sim City, and written an Abstract and an essay on Nanotechnology. These two components were judged separately. The competition on Saturday, January 26 was for the model made of recycled materials and for the team's presentation of the all the facets of their city. The St. Paul of the Cross Team spent all morning presenting their city and answering questions. They recieved five special awards and ended up in 4th place. Great Job!