Blacksburg Regional Challenge

Blacksburg Regional Challenge

Join JMU’s The Center for the Advancement of Sustainable Energy (CASE) at Virginia Tech for a Regional Kidwind Renewable Energy Challenge on March 4th, 2025.

The Virginia Renewable Energy KidWind Challenge is a hands-on design celebration that engages students through the lens of wind and solar energy. Student teams design, construct and test small scale wind turbines and solar structures.

On the day of the challenge, teams meet with a panel of expert judges to present their project design process, take a knowledge quiz to demonstrate their renewable energy expertise, and wind teams test their project for energy output in the Kidwind Wind Tunnel. Check out CASE’s website for more details on how to be involved with this challenge!

When?

March 4th, 2025. Check in is from 8am-9am. The day will end at ~3:30pm. A final schedule including end time will be created based on team registration. 

What to bring/prepare:

  • Lunch/SnacksPack a lunch or plan to try one of VT’s dining options
  • A Profile Form filled out for each team
  • Your project and accompanying documentation (any posters, notebooks, etc.)
  • A device per team to take the knowledge quiz via Kahoot
  • Cards/ board games/ books to stay busy while waiting between judging

Lunch: Dining Services at Virginia Tech is a well-known and top ranked university dining program hosting 49 unique places on campus to dine. Hours of operation can be found here. These options are cashless. Teams may also pack a lunch.

Parking Options:

  • Purchase parking on-demand with the ParkMobile app.
  • Purchase a daily permit online.
  • Purchase a daily permit in-person at 505 Beamer Way, Blacksburg, VA.
  • Purchase parking at a parking meter on campus. Please refer to the Virginia
  • Tech Parking Map for metered area locations.

Parking map can be found here: https://parking.vt.edu/parking-guide-map.html

Wifi: Wifi is free to guests at Virginia Tech for 9 hours. To Register follow these steps:

  • Connect to the Virginia Tech wireless network on your device
  • Open a web browser
  • Welcome to Virginia Tech landing page should automatically open
  • Select Guest and follow prompts
  • After completing the registration form you will receive a text with your log in credentials

Schedule: This is a tentative schedule to give you an idea of the day. A final schedule will be sent via email before the event. Please note: the 2024 VT Challenge finished at 2:15 due to a limited number of registered teams- but we hope to increase the number of teams competing in 2025. 

 8:00-9:00am Team arrive, check in, and can test their wind turbine without scoring in open tunnel testing
9:15-9:45am Welcome and Keynote
10:00am-12:00pm Tunnel Testing– Wind teams must test their wind turbine in the tunnel at least once for an official scoreJudge Interviews– Teams meet with judges according to the schedules below

Knowledge quiz– Teams test their knowledge in a Kahoot style quiz according to the schedule below

12-12:30pm Lunch
12:30-2:00p Tunnel Testing, Judge Interviews, and Knowledge quiz

Continued

2:00-3:00pm Activity/Tours while Judges Compile Scores
3:00-3:15pm Group Picture
3:15-3:45pm Award Ceremony

Where We'll Be

Support this event!

Event Partners

James Madison University: Center for the Advancement of Sustainable Energy

Thanks to our Sponsors!