2020 National KidWind Challenge

Dear KidWind Challenge Organizers,

 

We hope that you are all healthy and staying sane in this wild time. Like you all, we are settling into this new reality and taking stock of what this means for the KidWind Challenge season. Here is where we are at:

 

Regional Events
School closures have led to the cancellation of all events through the beginning of May. We were able to hold 13 events prior to these closures and some folks have elected to postpone their events until May with the hope that schools go back into session (though this does appear to be unlikely in most states). 

Online Challenge
In response to the cancellation of in-person events, we have built out a more flexible online challenge space. We continue to host ongoing Wind and Solar online challenges, and have expanded this offering to include additional site-specific online challenges. We are still working to make these site-specific online challenges live, but you can see the bones of it here (just scroll to the bottom).

 

We do anticipate that participation in these online challenges will remain challenging if schools are closed and people are practicing social distancing. It is unlikely that teams will be able to meet or that students have the supplies they need at home. We know that many of their towers/turbines are locked away at school, and most students don't have access to a box fan! Additionally, many of our students will not have someone at home that can oversee this work. We do think, though, that this may be a possibility in the event schools do head back into session in May/June, but you are unable to host an in-person event. 

Nationals Update
We are in close communication with AWEA event organizers about our National KidWind Challenge. Right now, the ban on large events in Colorado/Denver has not been extended through June, so the larger conference is still in the works with some virtual modifications. If AWEA cancels the June tradeshow, we will likely follow suit. Additionally, if schools remain closed for the remainder of the year, which we imagine to be the case in most states, we will cancel the event. SO - while Nationals is still a go as of today, we think it is highly unlikely that it will end up happening and we have halted all Nationals planning on our end.

 

Feel free to forward this along to your local teams, and please let us know if there is any way that we can support you.
Meghan