TAMPA, Fla. — If you could create a city for the future, what would it look like? That was the question posed to middle school students throughout the Tampa Bay area, and on Saturday, they got to share their answers. 

  • DiscoverE's Future City competition held regional finals
  • More than 20 teams from around Tampa competed
  • First place team will head to national finals in February
  • More Education stories

On Saturday, students competed in the Regional Finals for the DicoverE's Future City Competition. The nationwide, nonprofit educational program allows students to use creativity, math, science and engineering to design models of futuristic cities.

The competition was held at Thurgood Marshall Middle School. More than 20 teams around Tampa participated.

One team of 7th graders from Dunedin Highland Middle School created a city called "Kashkoi" in Japan.

“They’re learning off of things that have happened to us, like, even in Florida with hurricanes and what did your families go through and how we can make that process a little easier," said Maria de Koter, a teacher at the school.

“Our wireless electricity transmission we talked about because during hurricanes a lot of times power lines can be cut by the wind or from trees falling, and it takes a long time to recover and it’s an inconvenience to everyone," said Roshan Shah, one of the team members.

The theme this year was "Powering Our Future."

The students presented their projects to judges on Saturday. The first place team, "Valhalla LORE," came from Pinellas Academy of Math and Science. They will head to Washington, D.C. to compete in the Future City Competition National Finals in February.