Students from across Northern Virginia will participate in the KidWind Challenge competition at George Mason University on Saturday, March 25, 2017. The KidWind Challenge is a competition for elementary, middle, and high school students, which incorporates engineering, science, alternative energy, and sustainability.
"I’ve been a judge the last two years for the competition which was held as part of the School Environmental Action Showcase (SEAS),” says Colin Reagle, assistant professor in the Volgenau School of Engineering’s Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Teams of students will compete to build small-scale wind turbines that generate electricity, which will be presented to a panel of judges. The schools competing will be Navy Elementary School (3 teams) from Fairfax, Parkside Middle School (3 teams) from Manassas, Crossfield Elementary School (3 teams) from Fairfax, Lanier Middle School (2 teams) from Fairfax, Daniels Run Elementary School (1 team) from Fairfax, and Abingdon Elementary School (1 team) from Arlington. The KidWind Challenge is run by the Center for Wind Energy at James Madison University.
“I love motivating students in the field of renewable energy and this year when we had an opportunity to sponsor the competition with the JMU Center for Wind Energy, I jumped at it, said Reagle. “The opportunity to bring K-12 students together with their peers, our own mechanical engineering students building a portable wind turbine and experts in the field of wind energy at VSE is incredibly rewarding."
More information about KidWind is available at http://www.kidwindchallenge.org/events.