RALEIGH, N.C. — Hundreds of middle school students from across the state competed for an all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C. on Saturday.

  • 29 schools from across the state competed in the Future City Competition at NC State
  • Winner will get an all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C. to compete in the finals in February
  • Models had to be built out of recycled material for under $100

29 schools showed off their best future city tabletop displays at N.C. State University, where our very own Spectrum News Meteorologist Chris Thompson was the MC.

The winner of the Future City Competition, an eighth grade team from Langtree Charter Academy in Mooresville, will head to D.C. in February for the National Finals.

The models had to be built out of recycled material for less than $100.

"It's incredible that they are able to, at their young ages, research to come up with what really would be feasible in the future and put that comprehensively in a way that can be explained to their peers and to the public about what is really possible," said Dr. Lisa Thompson, who is the educational liason for the Future City North Carolina Region.

This year's competition theme was clean water.