Engineering Extension wraps up 2025 KidWind Challenge with national recognition for four Kansas teams
Friday, June 20, 2025
With more than 24 confirmed destroyed wind turbines, the High-speed Shark Tunnel delighted students at the World KidWind Challenge.
In a thrilling finish to its 2025 KidWind Challenge season, the Kansas Energy Program, housed within K-State Engineering Extension, saw four Kansas teams recognized on the world stage at the 2025 World KidWind Challenge in Phoenix, Arizona, May 19-21.
The award winners include:
- Energy Efficiency & Sustainability – WINders, Nemaha Central Middle School; The Mavericks, Oakley High School
- Innovation Award – The Mavericks, Oakley High School
- Rookie of the Year Award – The Wind Whisperers, Oakley Middle School
- Judge’s Choice Award – The Twisty Tornadoes, Logan Junior/Senior High School
The Kansas Energy Program hosted five regional KidWind Challenges, each of which fed into a Statewide Challenge and ultimately, the World KidWind Challenge. The program registered 80 teams and 314 students from 41 schools in the Kansas competition and sent a record 35 teams to the Statewide Challenge; 13 Kansas teams participated in the World KidWind Challenge. Additionally, several schools hosted their own internal KidWind Challenge, so altogether more than 850 students participated in the Kansas KidWind Challenge.
In the KidWind Challenge, student teams work together to design, build and test a wind turbine using the materials of their choice. Turbine blades are made with everything from soda cans to vinyl records — no two look alike; one Alaskan team at the national competition even made blades from whale baleen and walrus ivory. Each team’s turbine was tested in a series of wind tunnels, including low-speed, efficiency, yawing, high-speed and super-high-speed.
Students compete by age categories: fourth-fifth grade, sixth-eighth, or ninth-12th grade. Scoring is based on turbine performance, a knowledge quiz, a presentation to judges where the team explains its design process, and an instant challenge.
The Kansas Energy Program has conducted the Kansas KidWind Challenge since 2018. The Kansas KidWind Challenge saw a record 94 teams from 55 schools in 2023.
“Our goal is to get even more teams involved in this super fun STEM competition,” said Stacy Harris, energy education specialist for the Kansas Energy Program. “In 2026, we hope to max out all of our regional challenges, particularly the Northeast Regional Challenge in Overland Park. We’ll be conducting teacher workshops later this year to get more schools involved.”
Kansas KidWind is an energy-related STEM education event from the Kansas Corporation Commission and K-State Engineering Extension made possible by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. Funding from corporate sponsors — Enel Green Power North America, Kansas Electric Cooperatives, and Invenergy, to name a few — helps the Kansas Energy Program reimburse schools for mileage and substitute stipends, and provide lunch during the challenges.