Yorba Linda Teens’ City of Future Takes Design Honor : Engineering: Students win nationwide contest with vision of 2195 that includes levitating light-rail system.

Using a little luck and a lot of poise and imagination, three teen-agers from Yorba Linda on Wednesday defeated six other teams from around the country in Washington in a contest to see who could build the best futuristic city.

Jacob Smith, a member of the Yorba Linda team, said he didn’t want to imagine winning the national Future City Contest before the event for fear of a letdown. But after being awarded the top honors, Jacob was free to celebrate.

“This is great!” he said before heading off to a gala reception at the National Air and Space Museum.

He and his friends Cory Jobst and Jeff Carroll--all eighth-graders from Bernardo Yorba Junior High School--were named champions among the seven teams competing in the National Engineers Week Future City Contest. They won the contest by presenting their ideal city for the year 2195, called Ancona.

The seven teams created futuristic towns using a computer game called “Sim City.” Game players can pick sites for roads, police stations and other landmarks in their simulated cities by tapping a few keys on a computer. Like real city planners, though, Sim City players must use their brains to balance the needs of residents with the need for a healthy budget.

Thirteen-year-olds Jeff and Cory and 14-year-old Jacob managed that feat Wednesday. Cory credited his team’s levitating light-rail system and confident presentation for pushing them over the top with the judges.

“We honestly didn’t think we were going to win,” Cory said. “We thought Atlanta or Detroit would win,” because their models were splashier than Ancona and team members from those two cities made good speeches before the panel of judges. Atlanta’s model was domed and had hovering satellites, while Ancona was painted in plain browns and grays.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros presented the team a “humongous trophy goblet,” said the team’s science teacher, Todd Ferguson. As an award for winning, the three boys will able to go to U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala.

“I think I’d better bring some antacid tablets,” Jacob said. “They put you through training there where they spin you around in a gyroscope thing. It sounds fun.”

The three teens began the day by wheeling out an 18-square-foot model of Ancona, with a working train, before a panel of judges that included representatives of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the American Society of Civil Engineers. They built the model for the contest after designing the town on the computer.

Despite the pressure, they delivered their talk and answered judges’ questions without missing a beat, said Ferguson. He said he thinks that set them apart.

“We had guarded optimism going in,” Ferguson said. “We were not so psyched-up so that if we didn’t get it we’d get upset. These boys are so poised they didn’t leap over the chairs and bound down the aisle when they found out they won, but they were definitely thrilled.”

To reach the national competition, the youths won their regional competition in Buena Park in January. They submitted an essay, titled “Space Exploration and its Practical Application to Our City,” and discussed how future cities will have racial harmony because cultures from around the world will mix and become a melting pot.

Ferguson said Cisneros echoed the theme of ethnic responsibility when he spoke to the youths. “He encouraged kids to further their education and help address problems in their own community using their future engineering expertise,” Ferguson said.

The youths met political leaders and engineers. They also toured the Holocaust Museum, Ferguson said, and learned a lot from the experience of traveling to the capital.

Back at home, school officials were excited that their team pulled out the win.

“We’re really proud of them,” said school secretary Connie Parker. “We announced it over the loudspeaker and the other kids were cheering. They were really happy for them.”

The youths will return to Yorba Linda late today and are likely to go back to school Friday, Ferguson said.

Jacob said the team discovered that urban planning in real life is not as easy as it may be on Sim City.

“Planning out a city is a lot harder than you think,” he said. “On a (computer) program you can demolish and rebuild quickly, but now I feel gratitude to the real city designers--because they put cities up and they can’t just erase what they do.”