A planetarium for space and scientific studies, aerodynamically designed and seismically safe commercial buildings, an energy plant powered by fusing atoms and multiple residential buildings with self-contained water conservation units are good reasons to move to Elpis.

This futuristic city is more than concrete, steel and trees to seventh- and eighth-grade students at Upland's Carden Arbor View School who designed and "built" it for the 12th annual Future City Competition's Southern California regional finals.

The Future City Competition, a trademark event sponsored countrywide by National Engineers Week officials and supported regionally by city, county, state, engineering, aerospace and conservation agencies, seeks to increase middle-school students' involvement in science, math and engineering projects.

Opoku Acheampong of Claremont, a Caltrans transportation planner and former associate planner for the city of Pomona, coordinated the Southern California regional contest held Jan. 31 at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

Students from schools in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange, San Diego, Santa Barbara and San Luis Opisbo counties vied for the regional championship and the chance to compete in the national finals Feb. 22-28 in Washington, D.C.

Aaron Day, Kevin Sack, Scott Zylstra, Tiffany Wong, Brian Stein, Katelyn Previti, Gina Wang, Marina Garcia, Andres Perez, Danny Botero and Steven Johnson accepted Future City team peer Jacob Gilbert's suggestion to name their city for the ancient Greek god of hope.

The name made perfect sense since the young city founders believed hope and happiness for all citizens was their No. 1 goal. This objective, they reasoned, is especially significant for elderly residents and families.

Carden's computer teacher Carolyn Zitar and art teacher Pam Escoto supervised the Carden team while city of Rancho Cucamonga associate engineer Maria Perez professionally mentored the 12 young architects of the Future City abstract, essay and scale model of Elpis.

All work was done by students. Seventh-graders Scott and Kevin and eighth-grader Jacob presented the special elements of Elpis to judges from engineering, urban planning, environmental protection and governmental groups last Saturday.

The 12 students' vivid imaginations and sincere concern for the residents of Elpis drove their development of devices, services, infrastructure and municipal operations to make life comfortable, maintain the quality of life and respond to special needs.

"Our city's demographics include seniors and families primarily," Jacob said. "We invented a lightweight plastic walker that folds and retracts. It has power cords integrated into it so you can hook up a cell phone or a computer. This increases mobility for seniors and enables them to talk to people wherever they are.

"We used engineering principles to help the traction of the walker so it won't slip," he added. "If the walker tips or gets unbalanced, it vibrates to warn the senior citizen using it."

Kevin said they realized as people get older and retire, they must live on fixed incomes. With that in mind, he said seniors ride free on the public transit system and enjoy free programs at the senior center. The seniors' free rides are subsidized with revenue from advertising on the transit cars, he said.

The student city planners also considered the needs of physically challenged residents, Kevin continued.

"Our golf course has a country club complete with underground parking so the cars don't get hot in the sun," he said. "We provide lots of handicapped parking spaces for our seniors and disabled citizens because we care about them a lot."

Safety, Scott interjected, was a high priority when implementing services, zoning laws and development projects.

They wanted to avoid the potential dangers a nuclear plant can cause, he noted, so the city power plant fuses atoms together for its energy source. The planners put dense foliage and landscaping around the power plant, he added, to buffer it visually from nearby neighborhoods and create a more aesthetically pleasing plant site.

Aaron said his and future generations must be conservation conscious, so they incorporated environmental measures to protect, recycle and conserve natural resources.

"We designed buildings that mixed commercial and residential uses, taking into account aerodynamics and seismic safety," Aaron explained. "The buildings sway, not crumble or crash, if there's an earthquake. We have a bird aviary to protect endangered species, lakes and water features to create relaxing recreational areas and solar panels on houses to provide alternative and clean energy sources."

Some of the mixed-use buildings, said Scott, are also topped with their own water conservation and recycling towers.

Elpis augments educational and leisure opportunities with activities at senior citizens, performing arts and science centers, they all said.

Kevin and Scott want to become architects while Jacob and Aaron aspire to political careers. Their desire to improve computer skills, make a difference in their own school, learn the intracies involved in city planning and work as essential parts of a cooperative project prompted the four boys' participation in Future City.

Scott said he learned new design techniques while Jacob discovered just how demanding balancing budgets could be.

"I learned if you make a commitment, you have to be there despite what else is going on," Kevin said.

Jacob was so committed to his teammates he didn't go to a Kings' game to avoid missing a planning session. Zitar didn't accompany her husband and son on a Santa Barbara trip because it was on the competition day. Both young and adult members of the team devoted extra hours to the project without complaint.

"I've learned how difficult it is to establish a city that meets the needs of all the citizens," Aaron said, "and also how important it is to put the people and their needs before yours. You've got to make sure you meet the people's expectations."

The scale model of Elpis contains all recycled materials.

The passenger cars on the public transit system, a rail that actually moves, are old Tic Tac holders and gears come from students' old Lego parts. Solars panels are old CD ROMS, pencil packaging and the back of Zitar's old IMAC computer. Escoto's old knee-high nylons' cases adorn the planetarium dome. Numerous buildings are made of painted old wood blocks and tiny wedding fudge gift boxes.

"This project makes you look at trash in an entirely new way," Zitar said, laughing.

Size became relevant, the boys said, when asssembling the model.

"We had to learn scale because you couldn't make the trees too big," Jacob recalled.

"They'd be looking like giant sequoias if we didn't do them to scale," Kevin added.

Zitar and Escoto said helping students on the Future City project has become one of the most pleasant aspects of teaching. Both teachers said students lose their shyness, gain leadership, artistic and communication skills and discover their individual strengths.

Perez initially joined the team to satisfy her parent volunteer hours at Carden, but she enjoyed herself so much she's returned for five years. Her professional expertise helps students focus on the current project, learn practical aspects of city planning and operations and identify possible careers in engineering, architecture and urban planning, she said.

"They find out how things work together and that things aren't just tossed out there," Perez said.
Escoto and Zitar said students go beyond textbook learning and learn team work, patience, tolerance and resourcefulness.

Imani Tate can be reached by email at i_tate@dailybulletin.com or by phone at (909) 483-8544.