Future City starts every year with an important challenge topic—how can we make the world a better place? To answer it, 6th, 7th, and 8th-grade students imagine, research, design, and build cities of the future that showcase their solutions that address worldwide sustainability issues. This year's theme, "Electrify Your Future," challenges teams to identify and tackle challenges related to implementing this greener strategy for powering our lives.
Future City Iowa is looking for volunteers to help with the Regional Competition and there are lots of ways to get involved! Please fill out the form below to indicate your preference(s). Thank you for supporting these ambitious students and volunteering for Future City Iowa!
Date 1: Virtual Essay Judging on Saturday, January 13, 2024
Time: As you are able
Location: Virtual
Roles Needed: City Essay Judge
Date 2: Regional Competition Event on Saturday, January 20, 2024
Time: Varies by role, but the preliminary round is typically 8am–1:15pm and Finals happens 1:15–3:30pm
Location: Maple Grove Elementary
Roles Needed: Live Q&A Judge, Special Award Judge, Room Coordinator, Room Timer, Tabulator, Tech Support, General Volunteer/Fill-In
Volunteer roles:
-- Virtual City Essay Judge: reads a number of City Essay deliverables and scores them based on the rubric
-- City Model Judge: checks a number of City Model deliverables and scores them based on the rubric
-- Presentation Judge: watches team presentations during the competition, and scores them based on the rubric
-- Q & A Judge: meet with team to ask questions about engineering, the Design a 'Electric' city challenge, teamwork, and the team's future city
-- Special Award Judge: listens to team presentations and checks models to determine a winner for a specific Special Award based on a rubric or criteria provided by the sponsoring company
-- Room Coordinator: helps teams and supporters move quickly in and out of judging rooms, and helps the judges
-- Room Timer: helps to make sure each judging round is held on time
-- Tabulator: checks scores once Judges complete rubrics for each team; helps enter scores if necessary
-- General Volunteer / Fill-In: fills in any needed roles (e.g. another volunteer or judge calls in sick) and is on-call for general help during the day of the Regional Competition. More specific duties will be assigned and explained as needs are figured out!
– Final Teams Judge: listens to the top teams (determined by preliminary judges). Scoring results will determine the team that will represent Iowa at the national competition this year.
*Please note that you may be asked to fill a different role if the one you indicate below is already full.
