The Oakland Public Schools

Three Valley Middle School Students from Oakland, NJ, captured second place at the National Future City Competition held in Washington, DC. The team, along with their teacher, Judith Vihonski, and mentor-engineer, Robert Akovity, spent 4 days at the national competition where they presented and defended their city to panels of engineers. This was Valley's ninth consecutive year in which they advanced to the national competition.

More than 32,000 students from 1,100 schools in 39 regions participated in this engineering competition.. During the national event, the 5 top teams were selected and presented their city to "celebrity" judges and an audience of over 800 people. Two jumbotrons provided close up views of the model and the presenters during their final presentation. The event was televised on FOX 5 Morning News in Washington, DC.

The school received a $5,000 scholarship from the National Society of Professional Engineers for technology. The team also received 2 special awards for water management.

Their entry consisted of a Sim City computer model, an essay on sustainable, temporary housing for disaster victims, a narrative, a tabletop model, and a presentation.

Their city, Waihona Meli, is located on the island of Lanai and features vertical farms, green energy production, rotating wind turbine hotels, and innovative infrastructure.  The team spent countless hours researching, practicing their presentation, writing the narrative and essay, and creating a scaled model of their Hawaiian city.

Sponsored in part by the National Engineers Week Foundation, a coalition of more than 75 engineering, professional, and technical societies and some 50 corporations and government agencies, Future City is the largest and most successful education program of its kind.  Regional winning teams receive an all-expense-paid trip to the Future City National Finals, hosted by Bentley Systems, Incorporated, in Washington, D.C. during Engineers Week."

I know that you will want to report this amazing achievement to Oakland's governing body. Additionally, please know that our Team would accept an invitation from the Mayor and Council to present their project. Might we also request that a notice be placed on the Borough's announcement board (located on Ramapo Valley Road) congratulating Valley Middle School's National Award Winning Future City Team.