National Renewable Energy Challenge Features Local Students on Makersmiths KidWind Teams

Local students with enthusiasm for advancing renewable energy technology are thriving in Western Loudoun, sponsored by nonprofit group the Makersmiths. Two teams have just returned from the 8th Annual National KidWind Challenge, hosted by the University of Colorado at Boulder, after advancing to the national competition from the regional, and then Virginia, challenges.  

Neighborhood WATTS, a high school team participating in the KidWind Solar Challenge category, and Operation Cheap and Clean, a middle school team participating in the Wind and Solar Challenge categories, packed up their projects and traveled to Boulder. There they were among 82 students from 18 states and Mexico, as well as participants in the Collegiate Wind Competition.  

Team Neighborhood WATTS, with their solar-powered town design, won the Innovation Award in KidWind’s newly created National Solar Challenge. The national competition had until this year featured exclusively wind teams.  Ten teams of middle schoolers and high schoolers, including Neighborhood WATTS and Operation Cheap and Clean, participated in the solar category with such varied designs that KidWind plans to expand the category next year.  

The teams presented their designs and explained their processes to a panel of judges composed of industry representatives, who also tested them for originality and teamwork. Teams tested their knowledge in multiple Instant Challenges that included building a solar water pump and debating the merits and possibilities of creating a solar farm in a rural community (called KidWindLandia). 

Both Makersmiths teams participated in a piloted Fixed Bottom Offshore Wind Challenge. They built and brought to the competition a foundation they installed into an on-site tank, testing for stability and efficiency using a scale model offshore wind tunnel.  

The event featured several surprise challenges, in which students calculated energy efficiency and assessed circuitry safety.  All teams participated in a Quizbowl to test their renewable energy knowledge. 

A 2022 Google Data Centers grant to the Makersmiths, in support of STEM education initiatives, helped sponsor the teams’ trek to KidWind’s national competition.  “We are very proud of the Makersmiths teams and their recent success at the KidWind National Challenge,” said Amber Tillman, Head of Data Center Economic and Community Development for Google. “At Google we understand how important it is to invest in the next generation particularly in youth focused on STEM and developing technology skills. We were happy to support these teams and their tremendous work!”

Neighborhood WATTS teammates are Scarlett Artz, Soren Ogelman, Zara Ramadan, Jocelyn Ro, and Andrew Stern. The team’s coaches are Makersmiths members Justin McMillen and Diane Painter. Operation Cheap and Clean teammates are Rowan Artz, Max and Nick Burrus, Cameron Clarke, Evie and Curran McConnell, and Aidan Young. Their coaches are Makersmiths members Nora Young and Diane Painter. Both teams featured students from Loudoun County Public Schools, Fairfax County Public Schools, and homeschools.