Students from Sandalwood and KIPP Bold City high schools compete in the Minecraft New Jax City Build Challenge Finals on Tuesday, May 20, 2025, at WJCT Studios. | Dan Scanlan, Jacksonville Today
Published on May 21, 2025 at 10:49 am
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Dhruv Sonavane and his teammates proudly gazed at an oversized $2,500 check they won Tuesday. Their vision for a sustainable Downtown Jacksonville riverfront won them first prize in the Minecraft New Jax City Build Challenge.
Using a version of the blocky designs of the popular Minecraft video game — designed for classroom use with specifically tailored educational settings — the James Weldon Johnson College Preparatory Middle School team won their division.
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The design was a riverfront community farm produce hub, a version of the Riverside Arts Market that also offers farming and nutrition education. Dhruv, 13, said he felt “super, super honored” to be part of his seven-member team.
“We had to find a way to design agriculture and have it integrated with community sustainability as well as different food culture and history,” Dhruv said. “A big part of it is that local farmers can sell their goods there, but it is also a place for students and community members to learn about agriculture, how to eat better and grow food better, and tend to plants there.”
That is what city Sustainability Manager Ashantae Green wanted to hear as almost 400 students and teachers assembled at WJCT Studios for the finals of the New Jax City Build Challenge.
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“It is so important with the city growing as fast as we are, and there is so much development happening, so sometimes we don’t ask the kids that will inherit the Earth what they think, what should we do,” Green said. “This was a way to spark that creativity, a way of creative outreach, but also to empower them and educate them about different careers within our city, and real development that is happening.”
The city launched the e-sports-style challenge in mid-April. The three-week challenge let elementary, high school and college students build their vision for Jacksonville’s riverfront, using the education version of the popular Minecraft video game.
Minecraft’s education program is used throughout Duval County’s classrooms, giving students access to coding and science, engineering, technology and mathematics via a popular game.
Mayor Donna Deegan announced the Mayor’s Cup competition, seeking designs of a riverfront world that had to incorporate sustainability and resilience. Creativity and appearance were important, as was how well they presented their work to judges and a packed audience on Tuesday.
The designs had to explore STEM principals — science, technology, engineering and math — and sustainability elements to compete for a share of $10,000 in prize money from VyStar Credit Union, and other prizes.
More than 100 teams, with 600 students total, entered the first round in elementary, middle school, high school and college divisions. Then two teams per division were selected to advance to Tuesday’s final round:
- Elementary school finalists — The Minecraft Nerds and The Cougar Conservationists, both from Loretto Elementary School.
- Middle school finalists — The Green Legion from James Weldon Johnson Middle School and Ancient Builders from Christ the King Catholic School.
- High school finalists — 5000 Role Models of Excellence from Sandalwood High School and the Greyhounds from KIPP Bold City High School.
- College showcase — The Manta Rays from Florida State College at Jacksonville.
In the college division, Manta Rays members Mitch Love and Ripley Selhorst created a Minecraft-inspired Jacksonville riverfront site combining an overhead Skyway line and ground-level bus station with a concert stage, fruit gardens, playground and food truck areas.
“It’s truly meant to be a center for the community, and I feel like we achieved that,” Love said. “The cafe we have on the lot is actually substantiated by the farms that are also on the lot, so you do not even have to get on the road to get that food delivered. … I feel pretty great.”
“We worked really, really, really hard at it, bringing each of our unique strengths to the table, and that’s been a lot of fun for our friendship too ” Selhorst said.
The finalists made their presentations to judges that included educators, city leaders from JEA and the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, and other experts. Green said the judges had a hard time selecting winners.
“They were looking at sustainability and resilience features. They also looked at the way they communicated and presented their builds and how they worked together as a team,” Green said. “Some of the things were very unrealistic, but when we think of being an innovative city, some of those things come from unexpected places.”
Along with the winning teams from FSCJ and James Weldon Johnson College Preparatory Middle School, Sandalwood won the high school division, and The Minecraft Nerds received their $2,500 check in the elementary school class.
For Deegan, the whole competition was “incredible” to witness.
“Did you see the energy in there with all those kids — it is wonderful when you get kids excited about STEM by playing a game,” Deegan said. “That’s where they are just going to really lock in about life, and that is what is so exciting about the future of this city, to see these kids develop these innovative plans for resilience. It is their future, and I am glad to see them participating in it, really.”
For more information on the Minecraft New Jax City Build Challenge, go to jacksonville.gov/jaxbuildchallenge.
