Students place fifth in city-building project
BY JENNIFER AMATO Staff Writer

NORTH BRUNSWICK - Three students from Linwood Middle School received a fifth-place finish at the Future Cities Competition at Rutgers University on Jan. 26.

Eighth-grade students in Danita Guarino's science class constructed futuristic cities using recycled materials, based on the SimCity 3000 computer software game. Of the fifteen students who entered their projects, Spencer Lin, Michael Razzano and Virginia Zhao received top honors amongst 51 other teams.

Zhao said their city Sonan compared physically to the other cities, but the interview process was extremely hard. The students had to describe components of their city, in terms of its infrastructure, its transportation system and its safety. The most important factors they had to consider were their teamwork, their technical research and their inspiration.

"It was really pressuring because the judges would come one after another," Zhao said of the 45-minute interview. "We had to think off the top of our heads and give answers that were not really rehearsed."

The students were also judged on their essay, abstract and computer design.

"We all divided the work and tried to think if we should build modern buildings or build futuristic buildings using recycled materials so we all searched our houses for futuristic designs," Lin said.

Guarino received a check for $250 from Jacobs and each winning student received a $50 gift card. Guarino said she will put the grant toward supplies for her next project.