Students from Virginia Middle School (VMS) recently demonstrated their engineering skills and creativity while competing in the Southwest Virginia Regional KidWind Competition, an event focused on renewable energy design and innovation.
The KidWind Challenge is a nationally recognized STEM competition that encourages students to explore renewable energy through hands-on engineering projects. Teams design and build working models that harness solar and wind power, while also presenting their designs and engineering process to judges. The competition emphasizes teamwork, creativity, and the application of the engineering design process.
This year, five teams from Virginia Middle School competed in the regional event. Three teams entered the Solar Home Division, where students design model structures powered by solar energy, and two teams competed in the Wind Turbine Division, where teams engineer turbines to generate electricity from wind.
In the Solar Home Division, the team Crafting the Future earned Second Place for their innovative project—a solar-paneled dog house that powers a ceiling fan inside the structure, demonstrating how solar energy can improve comfort and efficiency even in small-scale applications.
Another VMS team, Power Pioneers, placed Third in the Solar Division with their creative solar-powered barn model. Their design used solar panels to generate energy that powered LED lighting and a small fan motor inside the barn, highlighting how renewable energy can support agricultural and rural structures.
In the Wind Turbine Division, the The Wind Busters team captured Third Place with an impressive turbine design. The team modeled their turbine blades after real-world wind turbine blades, carefully shaping balsa wood blades by sanding them into airfoils. Their dedication to precision and aerodynamics paid off during testing.
The Whirlwind Wonders team was recognized with the Spirit Award for their enthusiasm, perseverance, and positive attitude throughout the competition.
All five teams worked hard in preparation for the event, spending many hours designing, testing, and improving their projects. We are excited to support these teams as they travel to the state competition April 11 at James Madison University.
VMS is incredibly proud of these students and their dedication to engineering, renewable energy, and teamwork. Congratulations to all our KidWind competitors!
