By DAYNA DRUM | Reporter
Eighth-grade Palisadian Luke Todaro is off to Washington, D.C. after winning first place in the Future City Regional Competition in January. Todaro was part of a four-member team, “Team FutureVille,” made up of eighth-grade students at Wildwood Middle School.
The competition asks middle-school students around the country how to make the world a better place, with this year’s topic focusing on waste management.
In response to this question the students created a solution via a virtual city design using the SimCity game, wrote a 1,500-word city description, built a scale model, made a project plan and created a presentation. The end result took months of preparation.
Photo courtesy of Frank Todaro
The team was led to victory by coach and science teacher Dr. Tamara Smith, who will travel with the team to Washington, D.C. to compete on the national level.
When the winners were announced, Luke’s mother Lee Ann Daly said she was completely shocked.
“It was a mind-altering experience. So fun to see them scream and dance. They are so delighted, inspired and determined (to make it to meet President Obama),” Daly said. “Their teacher is such a good person and a quietly effective teacher.”
This is the second year in a row that a team from Wildwood took the first place in Southern California.
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