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The Tuscaloosa City Board of Education recognized students who participated in the Future City Competition, where every middle school in the Tuscaloosa City Schools won an award or was placed in the top 5 in the competition.

Future City, which took place Jan. 25 this year, is an international competition that focuses on improving students' math, engineering, and science skills. As part of the program, students focus on sustainability and applying STEM principles to solve real-world challenges, often incorporating futuristic technologies. It involves research, design, essay writing, and a physical model presentation.

Student teams were limited to a budget of no more than $100 for the entire project.

This year’s theme was “Above the Current”. Students were challenged to design a floating city and provide two innovative examples of how their floating city works and keeps its citizens healthy and safe. TCS brought a total of 9 teams to the competition from across our 5 middle schools.

"My favorite part about the project was planning around the city, and making blueprints, researching. We used Google maps to see where a city would be, to put it near two cities, and put it on the gulf current so that our city could use a hydroelectric plant that could convert the gulf stream into power, to provide sustainable energy for the future," one TCS middle school student told the board Tuesday.

TCS Future City Winners:

Eastwood Middle:

Top 5 Team- Luna Tunes

IEEE Huntsville “Best Telecommunications and Power Systems”- Crawfish City

Northridge Middle:

National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying “Best Land Surveying Practices”

TASPA Middle:

Project Management Institute Educational Foundation “Outstanding Project Plan Award”- Cavington Hills

Tusc. Magnet Middle:

Top 5 Team- Poseidon’s Crest

Westlawn Middle:

American Society for Quality “Best Use of Quality Tools”- Idle City

In TCS, we are growing critical thinkers, leaders and problem-solvers through a focus on math. Tuesday night, our board recognized students from across the district who placed in the recent Perennial Math Competition. The competition was held Dec. 7, 2024.

Students, ranging from 3rd to 8th grade, won a total of 41 awards. NMS tudents who won in the competition include: sixth grader Hayden Nguyen, who won three awards. Two NMS teams also won awards. One NMS team, led by sixth grader John Jordan won two awards. A team led by NMS eighth grader Abdurrahman Esad Altindis also won two awards. Congrats students!

Middle School students from across the region, including 96 TCS students all five TCS middle schools, presented their science projects as part of the University of Alabama STEM Showcase on Feb.1.

As part of the competition, students had to explain their science projects, including hypothesis and methods they undertook in their research, in nine different categories. The result was astounding: TCS students claimed awards in every category. Orlandria Stewart, a student at Westlawn Middle School, won "Best of Show" for her project "The Stroop Effect," which studied how people take longer to name the color of a word when the word itself is a different color than the ink it's printed on

"We are so proud of Orlandria and her amazing work, and we are proud of all our students who presented today," said Westlawn Middle Principal Dr. Darlene Atkins.

The STEM Showcase, which began through a partnership between the Tuscaloosa City Schools and The University of Alabama, is important in the work being done by TCS to focus on STEM education, said TCS Superintendent Mike Daria.

"It is part of our vision to give all our students exposure to STEM education," Daria said. "This competition is a great example of a community partnership that helps further that vision and make a profound, positive impact on our students."

The STEM Showcase and other programs are hosted by the Center for Community-Based Partnerships in the Division of Community Affairs at The University of Alabama.

All STEM Showcase winners can be found below.
 

Behavioral & Social Sciences

Winner: Adam Abu'Qahoug, Maxwell Snow & David Delaire of Tuscaloosa Magnet Schools-Middle

Runners Up: Henry Brickman-Curzon, Michael McClain & Anson Chen of Tuscaloosa Magnet Schools-Middle

 

Biology

Winner: Lottie Bryan & Harper Hart from Tuscaloosa Magnet Schools-middle

Runner Up: Diya Mistry from Eastwood Middle

 

Chemistry

Winners: Zach Brummond, William Gilmore & Reyn Sims of Tuscaloosa Academy

Runners Up: Kylie South & Ava Aaron of Northridge Middle

 

Energy & Transportation

Winners: Benji Schwaeble, Francois Veillon & Lincoln Wood of Tuscaloosa Academy

Runners Up: Aaliyah Clark, Jakayla Gibbs & Bonnie Williams of Westlawn Middle

 

Engineering:

Winners: Liam Patel, Luke Poole & Auggie Watkins of Tuscaloosa Magnet Schools - Middle

Runner Up: Julia Muse of Northridge Middle

 

Environmental & Earth Sciences:

Winners: Addison Large, Emma Grace Kemmerer & Delina Menasse of Tuscaloosa Magnet Schools - Middle

Runners Up: Sofia Huebener, Layla Waller & Jireh Gibson of Tuscaloosa Magnet Schools - Middle

 

Mathematics & Computer Science

Winner: Anastasia Gleyzer of Northridge Middle

Runners Up: Zakiylah Carter & Jayden Kemp of Westlawn Middle

 

Medicine & Health Sciences

Winner: Orlandria Stewart of Westlawn Middle

Runners Up: Beren Melouk, Elliot Jarett and Jameson Cox of Tuscaloosa Magnet Schools - Middle

 

Physical Science

Winners: Carmen Hyche & Ma'Kynleigh Pearson of Eastwood Middle

Runners Up: Maddox Rice of Sipsey Valley Middle

 

Avantor Award: Lauren Strickland, Holley Crawford, Marley Wisdom from Sipsey Valley Middle

Microchip Award: Zakiylah Carter & Jayden Kemp from Westlawn Middle

Discovery Flight Award: Benji Schwaeble, Francis Veillon & Lincoln Wood of Tuscaloosa Academy

Best of Show: Orlandria Stewart of Westlawn Middle

 

Watch Orlandria Stewart of Westlawn Middle explain her best of show-winning project by clicking HERE.

 

Northridge Middle School sixth graders had a blast at the annual Tuscaloosa Rocketry Challenge. Students designed and decorated two-litre bottles for the event and students learned about aerodynamics and space.. Volunteers from several University of Alabama departments came out to teach lessons and run the challenge. #AmazingtotheCore

Watch the Video:

Bella Robinson is nice to her classmates and she helps them solve problems. She is an ambassador, plays volleyball and makes good grades. Those are the reasons why she is the Inspinring Excellence Award Recipient from Northridge Middle School The award is presented to a student at each TCS school by Townsquare Media. Bella also received movie tickets as well as a McDonald's gift card from the Tuscaloosa Police Department .

Watch the Video: