Gratton Elementary School in Stanislaus County took first place in the Northern California Regional Contest for the Future City Competition held in January in Vallejo at the California Maritime Academy. HiMap Academy placed second. HiMAP is an Academy focusing on STREAM (Science, Technology, Reading & Writing, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) disciplines at CSU Stanislaus.
Twenty-two schools in Northern California participated in this year’s state competition, including four from Stanislaus County. Gratton School was slated to represent Northern California at the national competition Feb. 13-15 in Washington D.C. This is the sixth consecutive year that a team from Stanislaus County represented Northern California at the national competition.
Future City is judged on five components: The Virtual City Design, City Description Essay, City Model, Project Plan and Team Presentation. Scores from all five components are added together to determine the top team. All Stanislaus County teams competed in a Practice Future City Competition on Jan. 9 at the Stanislaus County Office of Education to help prepare them for the state event. The local competition is sponsored by the Stanislaus County Office of Education (SCOE) and supported by the Education Foundation of Stanislaus County and Mercer Foods.
Oriac GEM was the name of the city created by students from Gratton Elementary School. Team Oriac GEM envisioned their Future City as a bustling metropolis of 30,000,000 people located in what was once known as Cairo, Egypt along the Nile River Delta. One hundred years ago Cairo had no official garbage service and was producing 15,000 tons of waste every day. Much of that waste was thrown in the streets. Environmental engineers realized that Cairo needed a waste-management solution for a huge city of 175 square miles with an ever-growing population. A team of engineers developed a plan to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Rot, to clean and beautify the city. Team members included: Ava Chiesa, Madison Boots, Pete Wagner, Garret Hicks, Madison Threet, Morgan Gravatt, Emma Hartman, Esteban Martin, Dakota Dutey, Ryan Meadows, Heath Miller, Gavin Villarreal, Sophia Thomsen, Andrew Williams, and Brenden Carne. Teacher Rexann Jensen served as the coach and Burt Lindquist served as the Professional Mentor.
