On a recent sunny spring day, dozens of Bethel middle school students filled the gym at Meadow View School for the annual KidWind Challenge. Nervous laughter and anxious faces filled the space as the students waited to put their model wind turbines, and their knowledge of wind energy, to the test.
Earlier in the school year, students worked in teams to design, test and refine their turbines before holding a class competition. The winning team from each class was invited to participate in the district-wide event.
At the district challenge, teams received scores based on the energy their turbine produced and their ability to answer questions in front of an interview panel. The interview panels were led by EWEB employees who quizzed the students on general wind energy concepts and facts, and asked questions about the students' design process.
"It was really fun to see how excited some of the kids were about the turbines they built," says Adam Rue, a resource analyst with EWEB. "They took the challenge seriously and I was impressed with the level of knowledge many of the teams displayed."
A team from Shasta Middle School took first place with a near perfect interview score and their turbine also finished top of the list, producing 37,999 milliwatts in 60 seconds.
EWEB is proud to support KidWind and other hands-on STEM education that fosters curiosity, creativity and a lifelong love of learning.
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