MARC JACOBS
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Students from Allen STEM Magnet School are bringing home a world championship after earning first place at the 2026 KidWind World Competition in Madison, Wisconsin.
The Allen STEM Mavericks team claimed the title against more than 50 teams in their division during the international renewable energy competition, which challenges students to design and build small-scale wind turbines and complete a series of engineering and science-based challenges. A second Allen team, the Whirlwinds, also competed at the world event.
The competition requires students to design a wind turbine that fits within a four-foot cubic space while maximizing energy production and efficiency. Throughout the school year, students repeatedly redesigned and tested their projects before presenting them to judges at the world competition.
Allen STEM coach Keith Gable said the competition emphasizes the engineering design process and teaches students how to learn from both successes and failures.
“With that process, they present to the judges and tell them about how they made it, some of the reasons why, some of the things that failed, some of the successes, and what they want to keep improving on,” Gable said.
Students said they created four different turbine designs during the season before settling on the final version used at Worlds. Judges also evaluated teams on technical knowledge, presentations and problem-solving skills.
In addition to turbine testing, competitors completed quizzes covering energy, electricity, solar and wind concepts. Teams also participated in instant challenges involving electrical circuits and scavenger-hunt style activities.
“We put all those parts together and ended up being one of the top teams and earning a champion,” Gable said. “It’s awesome.”
The KidWind program begins early in the school year at Allen STEM. More than 50 fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade students participate annually, representing roughly one-third of the students eligible for the program.
The school narrowed participants through an internal competition before advancing four teams to regionals. Allen teams took first and second place at regional competition, then advanced to state, where two teams won their divisions to qualify for the world championship.
The competition process stretched across the school year, with increasingly difficult levels at each stage.
“It gets a lot harder for each step,” Gable said.
Students involved in the program said the experience taught them perseverance, public speaking and teamwork skills in addition to engineering concepts.
“It’s very fun, because you get to have a new type of experience,” student Cannon Loepp said. “It takes a lot of perseverance, but in the end it’s a very rewarding thing. You learn a lot from it.”
Another student said the competition helped build confidence and hands-on skills.
“It’s a good experience,” team member David Johnson said. “You get to learn how to build and use all that stuff, and I’ll probably do it again.”
Community members welcomed the teams back to Hutchinson Thursday morning at Allen STEM Magnet School following their championship performance.