In late January, the South Colonie Central School District announced that they will host this year’s regional KidWind Challenge, the industry-leading renewable energy design and construction student competition that encourages renewable energy education in the classroom.
This year’s regional event will measure power produced as well as have students make presentations to judges at Sand Creek Middle School on Saturday, March 18 from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
“We are excited to be able to offer this opportunity once again,” said South Colonie STEM teacher and On-Site Energy Manager James Brown. “At the beginning of the school year, we ask our students if they want to get involved. We have students who have been working on their designs since September and will continue to meet weekly until the event in March. They are really committed to the process of fine-tuning their design.”
This week students are testing out their designs. Students are editing the gears they created using Tinkercad, and one using the gear program (evolventdesign.com gear generator) to create the gear.
Students in grades 4 to 12 can participate in the South Colonie regional KidWind event. Prizes will be awarded to a middle school division in grades 4-8 and a high school division in grades 9-12. Top teams from this regional competition will be invited to compete at the national championship event at the Balch Fieldhouse at the University of Colorado – Boulder, the week of May 14.
“It’s a really great opportunity for students to work in a team,” said Dr. David Perry, superintendent of schools. “We know that STEM education plays a key role in enabling students to become critical thinkers and innovators and we believe strongly in continuing to provide these opportunities for students.”
South Colonie School District, under the leadership of Brown, has participated in the challenge for many years. In 2022, a team of four students from South Colonie the “Sand Creek Sonic Spinners” participated and came home as the National Champions. The team, led by Brown, participated among more than 50 teams.
Registration for the event is now open. There is no limit to the number of teams that can participate. More details about the event including registration information can be found here: https://www.kidwind.org/challenge/events/632b3819b2288e45fed0f403