NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Allen STEM Magnet School Principal Jessica Thomas told Hutch Post the KidWind team at Allen is starting up again this week.
"We're now starting our third year," Thomas said. "They've won nationals twice now. The first two years we did it, they won nationals both times. It's been really cool to see that original group of kids move up in KidWind and act as leaders for the new kids that are joining. It's for fourth through sixth graders, so a lot of those kids started out as fourth graders and now they are in it sixth graders and they are kind of acting as mentors for those new kids that are joining."
At nationals, there are multiple different tunnels with different wind speeds in an effort to test not only the energy output, but the resiliency of a wind turbine design under real world conditions, as the wind doesn't blow at the same speed all the time.
"It's a program where kids learn about wind energy and sustainable energy," Thomas said. "They design their own wind turbine. They learn how to follow that engineering design process and refine their work and test and see if their designs work and then they are building things hands on."
With the success of the KidWind Blue team, the overall program is looking to have more and more students involved.
"We've gone from, in the first year, we had 15 kids, we're hoping to have about 40 this year, so the program is growing."
The KidWind program is one of the programs that will be a part of the KASB District Showcase next month in Wichita. The team is also selling candy bars as a fundraiser. You can find out more at their Facebook page.
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