Durham Catholic School Board students are working together to build a smarter, more sustainable future.

More than 200 kids displayed projects that explore how cities could adapt to climate change. Students have been working on their projects for the past six months.

The “Future City Competition” is a part of an effort to get more students interested in engineering.

Mikayla Valladares is one of those students who hopes to pursue a career in the field.

“Engineering has always appealed to me because I’ve always wanted to make things to make life more efficient,” she said.

Valladares’ project puts a strong focus on wind and solar power to run her ‘future city.’

The competition has also inspired Michael King, another student, to explore an engineering career.

“We see people that are engineers to this day and we see them do these things and create these objects that can prevent a real natural disaster,” King said.

“It’s just amazing that we can do a little bit of that.”

Engineers Canada, who organized the event, said they would like to see more diversity in the engineering field.

“We’re hoping that this initiative helps to spark an interest in engineering and as we’re very well aware, we’re missing a lot of girls and diverse groups in engineering right now at a professional level,” said Renee Taylor, the organization’s program lead for diversity and outreach.

“We’re hoping programs like this help to spark interest for the next generation.”

Valladares can only hope for the same.

“Everyone should have an equal shot of being something…I want to show people that kids can be engineers too.”

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