Welcome Back VA Kidwind Coaches!

We are excited to kick off the 2024-2025 Virginia Kidwind Renewable Energy Challenge Season, and have lots of exciting and important updates for you.

⚡In this email:

• Important Communication Update
• Kidwind Expo Announcement
• Updated Registration Process
• Challenge Locations
• VA Regional Kidwind Trainers
• Tunnel Testing Days
• Website Updates
• Professional Development with CASE
• Lending Library Kit
• Opportunity for Kidwind Alumni

⚡Requested action items from this email:

• Add this email to your email contacts
• Complete the "Let us Know You're Coming" form

⚡Additional action items if interested-

• Email us if your students would like to share their project/experience at the Kidwind Expo on January 11th
• Register for the October 12th Tri State Coach Training at Shenandoah University
• If your school has a wind tunnel and is interested in hosting a Tunnel Testing day for your area- please email us!

Important Communication Update

VA Kidwind Coach emails will come from this email, rather than reyes3ar@jmu.edu. (It's still Anna writing them- hi!) Please save this email as a contact to ensure emails don't go to spam! We are using an email list so coaches can easily sign up for coach emails. There will be less frequent emails this year and more information on our website. However, if you are planning on coaching a VA Kidwind team- it is very important not to unsubscribe from this list to make sure you receive important updates! Important Emails will be uploaded to our website for easy review.

Kidwind Expo & Tunnel Testing- Jan 11th

Join us at our free Kidwind Expo and Tunnel Testing on January 11th, 2025 10am-2pm at James Madison University Festival Conference and Student Center. Tunnel testing will take place for the hour before the event during checkin (9am-10am). Students will have the opportunity to learn new skills that can be applied to their solar or wind project such as airfoil design, microcontrollers, gears, solar tracking, generator building, and more. Coaches can attend sessions on Whitebox Learning's Kidwind Simulator, Microcontrollers, and Cricut Design. This is a fabulous opportunity for teams to learn how to take their project to the next level. If your students would be interested in sharing their project and experience, please email us!



(Registration link will come in a future email. This event was previously announced for October 12th- we've moved the date to give more time for teams to form)

Updated Registration Process

We are hoping to streamline the information collecting process for teams by creating three clear steps for joining a Kidwind Regional Challenge

1. Sign up for Coach Emails (checkmark- you did it!)

2. Complete Let us Know You're Coming Form

3. Complete Registration Form

Please fill out our "Let us Know You're Coming" form as soon as you know that you plan to bring at least one team to a challenge. You do not need to know team details for this form. This will allow us to create accurate challenge schedules sooner.

The "Let us Know You're Coming" form is how you will request a starter kit for your team! Please note- we will be shipping kits out in batches, with the first going out mid October.

We will collect Tshirt sizes and parent emails in our registration form. We will be handling the media release forms by sending them for eSign directly to parents. This means there will be no follow up forms necessary for you to complete or bring on the day of the event!

More details on this process can be found on our website.

Challenge Locations

CASE is planning regional Virginia RE Challenges for February-March 2025.

The following challenges have confirmed dates and locations:

• Winchester- March 14th- Shenandoah University
• Lynchburg- March 30th- Randolph College
• Blacksburg- March 4th- Virginia Tech

Dates coming soon for the following cities/areas:

• Charlottesville
• VA Beach Area
• Richmond Area
• Fairfax/Arlington (tentatively)

The VA Kidwind RE State Challenge will be held April 12th, 2025 at JMU.

Virginia Regional CASE Trainers

CASE is excited to be able to share the expertise of a group of experienced coaches around the state with all Virginia Kidwind Coaches.

Regional CASE Trainers are available across the state. CASE Trainers are experienced KidWind Coaches and are available to answer questions, offer additional training, plan tunnel testing events, and help with needed materials and resources. 

Additional support, resources, and assistance are additionally available by contacting Kim Ward at ward9km@jmu.edu.

Tunnel Testing Days

CASE, along with partnered VA Kidwind Trainers, will host Tunnel Testing days around the state. Tunnel Testing Days will be an opportunity for any team to experience a full size Kidwind Wind Tunnel. Wind Teams are invited to bring their project on the day of these events to collect data in the wind tunnel. Teams can use this opportunity to test different blades, pitches, or other design aspects in the full size wind tunnel.

Confirmed Tunnel Testing Days:

• January 11th at JMU (as part of the Kidwind Expo)
• March 8th in Leesburg, VA

Additional Tunnel Testing will occur in the following regions:

• Southwest VA
• Richmond
• Williamsburg
• Southside Region

If your school owns a Kidwind tunnel and you are interested in hosting a tunnel testing day, please reach out us so we can add it to our list to share!

Tri-State Kidwind Coach Training Event

A KidWind Coach Training will be held at Shenandoah University on October 12th from 8:30 AM to 1 PM.

Angela Stoltz, Diane Painter, and Kim Ward will lead educators in how to coach students participating in wind and solar KidWind Challenges. Attendees will explore renewable energy activities, generate electricity using wind and solar energy, and discuss rules and expectations for the annual regional KidWind Challenge.

CASE Website Updates

CASE has worked this summer to revamp the RE Challenge section of our website. It's still a work in process- and I have a lot more information to add- but I hope you take a moment to review it and provide any feedback you may have!

On the RE Challenge portion of our website you can find:

• A complete list of coach resources available through CASE
• Challenge components broken down
• Team Registration process details
• Event Details
• and more!

I will continue to update the website to reflect any action items/information shared via future email. Important emails sent be uploaded as PDFS to our website under "Coach Resources" for easy finding and review.

The Kidwind Project has also redone their website this summer, check it out at https://kidwind.org/

Professional Development with CASE

With an experience of 26 years teaching, Kim is welcomed to the CASE team as the Professional Development Manager.

Kim now managers our renewable energy educator trainings.

If your school or district is interested in hosting a Renewable Energy Teacher Training to prepare teachers for the RE Challenge Season, please reach out to Kim at ward9km@jmu.edu.

Lending Library Kits

CASE has partnered with Virginia Public Libraries to make borrowing renewable energy activities easier for you! Each partnering library has 6 different kits for anyone to borrow. These kits include activity material and curriculum on how to use the kit.

Kits are available currently in these locations:

• Roanoke Regional Library
• Chilhowie Public Library
• Williamsburg Regional Library

These library kits are a great way to bring Kidwind materials into your classroom before you receive your gear. View Kit options and details on our website.

Opportunity for Kidwind Alumni

Please share this opportunity with any graduated students who participated in Kidwind!

The Kidwind Project is looking for a year-long, part-time commitment from college students who will work in a support role for virtual and in-person KidWind Challenges and Workshops. Fellows will provide guidance to teams and local organizers and host virtual sessions on technical components of designing a wind turbine or solar structure for Challenges. You can find more details here.



Feel free to reach out with questions to Zella@KidWind.org, or pass along her contact information to interested students.

The above message is from the Kidwind Project- CASE at JMU is not hiring for this posistion.

Thanks!

That's all my updates for now. Thanks for all of the great work you do.

Please let me know if you have any feedback or questions from today's update.

Best,

Anna Reyes

K-12 Education Program Manager

Center for the Advancement of Sustainable Energy

James Madison University