By Ahmad Abdul-Quadir

PHOENIX, AZ. Four young middle-school students and their teacher, from Phoenix Metro Islamic School (PMIS) in Tempe, excitedly rushed to the stage at University Public School in Phoenix at the annual Arizona Future City Competition on Saturday, January 23, 2010. After a morning of presenting their city of the future, Costa Verde, in front of visitors and a panel of judges, Phoenix Metro Islamic School’s team was chosen as one of five finalists and eventually earned fourth place among over 100 schools. Student teams from across all Arizona, including one school from as far as Albuquerque, New Mexico, came with their creative and colorful models of their cities and matching felt hats, scarves, or shirts to participate in the daylong event.

The Future City Competition is an annual event, hosted by the engineering community, and is part of a nationwide competition challenging seventh and eighth-graders to use math, science, and engineering to build a city of the future. Teams, including PMIS’s city Costa Verde, followed a four-phase process that lasted three to four months: to (1) design a city using SimCity 4 software, (2) research and write an essay addressing an engineering problem and an abstract describing their city, (3) build a scale model, and (4) present their city in front of a panel of judges. The winning team, which was "Luna Llueva" from Cocopah Middle School in Scottsdale, goes to Washington, DC, to represent Arizona in the National Future City Finals in February.

The PMIS team, which included eighth graders Anisa Abdul-Quadir, Nour Abuwandi, and Hira Ali as presenters and sixth grader Yassin Hamzaoui as backup, worked since late October on each part of the project. "We met five to six hours a week," said team member Anisa Abdul-Quadir. Their dedicated teacher Ouahida Hamzaoui, who spent hours in the computer lab and the art room each week after school, guided their thinking and encouraged them to work hard and be creative. ASU mechanical engineering student Samir Hamdan helped the students to research this year’s essay topic "Providing an affordable green living space for people who have lost their home due to a disaster or financial emergency" and to incorporate it into their presentation.

After being declared a finalist, the exhilarated team members, presented in front of all of the teams in the auditorium. They had twenty minutes to rehearse their six-minute long speech before going up to present on the stage in front of roughly five to six hundred people. Then, they left the rest to Allah. "We just made dua," remarked Anisa. The students enthusiastically and confidently explained their city in a creative "City Council Meeting" style presentation, where Nour Abuwandi was the mayor, Hira Ali the city planner, and Anisa Abdul-Quadir the chief engineer. They answered questions from a panel of celebrity judges while their city was projected on the big screen. "I was having fun!" said Ali, who seemed worry-free as she answered questions about teamwork while building the city. "It was all worth it in the end," she said.

After it was all over and the winners and other awards were announced, the students were relieved to have accomplished such a noteworthy end result. It was a great result for Phoenix Metro Islamic School and was the first time an Islamic school in Arizona had placed among the top five. "Future City actually boosted my confidence," said Hira, saying that the project inspired her to seek similar projects in the future. The three months of work taught them many things, including "so many ways you can generate electricity," said Anisa.

PMIS was very proud of the accomplishment of its students. When asked what advice they would give to students next year, they said that it is important to "start early, and do your best" in order to win. Students who would like to participate will need dedication, confidence, creativity, and writing skills. "Next year, [insha Allah] we will be in first place," said PMIS principal Hind Hania.