NICS Participates In Imagine Tomorrow
NICS Participates In the Alaska Airlines Imagine Tomorrow Competition
Segment by: Zachary Koontz, 5/23/17
On Friday, May 19th, ten North Idaho Christian School students packed up their bags and drove two hours to Pullman, Washington, and Washington State University. The students were getting prepared for the next day, when they would head up campus to the “Beasley Coliseum” to set up their projects to wow the judges and bring home NICS’ first ever Imagine Tomorrow trophy. This was the first year NICS as a school has participated in the Alaska Airlines Imagine Tomorrow competition, and we were going to try and lay the groundwork for more NICS students in the future to join in trying to “Pursue Sustainability” as WSU says about the competition.
There were three teams entered in Imagine Tomorrow from our school: my team, The Pentahomes, which had Emily Lincoln, Josh Butcher, Lis Empey, Shenie Orr, and myself; Modern Milkman, which was Conrad Beck and Jayden Colby; and Capturing Body Heat to Power Small Devices, which was Cathy Ko, Anna Cho, and Chloe Sisco. We stayed in the WSU Dorms, and ate at the Southside Cafe, one of the mess halls on campus, to experience the day-to-day of college life. There were a few tours of the campus as well, which were very fascinating to compare to high school.
As for the competition itself, there were many schools represented there, and the atmosphere was filled with anticipation. Each team received a small table and board to pin a poster on, and everything else needed to be supplied by the team. The place where everyone set up was in the walkway surrounding the basketball arena, which is shaped kind of like a circle. The teams were positioned in double rows around the circle, one half of the teams facing in, the others facing out. There were ten judges in the competition, each assigned different numbers, and they walked around and talked with the teams about the projects. “The judges actually prefer it if students talk semi-casually with them,” NICS Imagine Tomorrow Rep Mrs. Beck said, “They enjoy when students are relaxed and having fun.”
There are a number of challenges and approaches that must be considered before entering a project. The four challenges are the McKinstry Built Environment Challenge, the Itron Food, Energy, and Water Challenge, the Biofuels Challenge, and the Boeing Aerospace Challenge. The three approaches are Design, Technology, and Behavior.
During an evening awards ceremony on the second day of the competition, we were very excited to learn that a group from our school had earned some awards for their inventive creation. Capturing Body Heat to Power Small Devices won the “Best Project from a Newly Participating School” award, picked by the judges and reps of the competition. The same group had also won second place in the McKinstry Built Environment Challenge, with the Technology Approach. Each student won $300 for the two awards. The school received $600 for participating and being new to the competition.
I’ve been asked many questions about the competition now, and most of them are people asking about the ins-and-outs of the competition, or whether it’s worth it to enter a project. I would answer each one with the same answer: yes, it’s absolutely worth it! It’s a little difficult at first, as everyone scrambles around trying to think about what we’re going to do, but once you get going, it’s not too bad. I think it’s totally worth the initial trouble, because it’s an experience that allows you to see what college is like and it helps you get to know your teammates better. Plus, if you’re in College and Career Prep class, it looks good on a resume. I would highly encourage everyone to join us next year: May 18-20, 2018, to imagine a better future.