{"id":563,"date":"2026-10-13T17:49:59","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T17:49:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/fsml\/?page_id=563"},"modified":"2026-10-13T17:56:04","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T17:56:04","slug":"vital-kidwind-challenge-team","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/fsml\/vital-kidwind-challenge-team\/","title":{"rendered":"VITAL student-teacher team succeeded in KidWind Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/fsml\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/150\/2024\/01\/FB_IMG_1702046941667-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-263\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/fsml\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/150\/2024\/01\/FB_IMG_1702046941667-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/fsml\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/150\/2024\/01\/FB_IMG_1702046941667-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/fsml\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/150\/2024\/01\/FB_IMG_1702046941667-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/fsml\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/150\/2024\/01\/FB_IMG_1702046941667-624x351.jpg 624w, https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/fsml\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/150\/2024\/01\/FB_IMG_1702046941667.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since Summer 2023, Dr. Peng Zhang has been collaborating with the Putnam County School System&#8217;s (PCSS) Virtual Instruction to Accentuate Learning (VITAL) school to foster STEM education among high school students. Our lab&#8217;s role primarily revolves around supporting the school&#8217;s KidWind Challenge team, consisting of a dynamic group of talented students and dedicated teachers. As a university liaison, Dr. Zhang has provided expert advice on the design of wind turbines through school visits and direct engagement with both the students and teachers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"577\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/fsml\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/150\/2026\/10\/IMG_1669-rotated-1-edited-1024x577.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-565\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/fsml\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/150\/2026\/10\/IMG_1669-rotated-1-edited-1024x577.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/fsml\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/150\/2026\/10\/IMG_1669-rotated-1-edited-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/fsml\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/150\/2026\/10\/IMG_1669-rotated-1-edited-768x433.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/fsml\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/150\/2026\/10\/IMG_1669-rotated-1-edited-1536x866.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/fsml\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/150\/2026\/10\/IMG_1669-rotated-1-edited-2048x1154.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"589\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/fsml\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/150\/2026\/10\/board_of_education_photo1-edited-1024x589.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-566\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/fsml\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/150\/2026\/10\/board_of_education_photo1-edited-1024x589.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/fsml\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/150\/2026\/10\/board_of_education_photo1-edited-300x173.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/fsml\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/150\/2026\/10\/board_of_education_photo1-edited-768x442.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/fsml\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/150\/2026\/10\/board_of_education_photo1-edited-1536x883.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/fsml\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/150\/2026\/10\/board_of_education_photo1-edited-2048x1178.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Following months of hard work, the students achieved remarkable success in October 2023, when they <strong>won the state-wide KidWind Challenge<\/strong> in Nashville, Tennessee! Their achievement was recognized by the Putnam County Board of Education in December 2023. Our lab continued our support as the team prepared for the National KidWind Challenge. We offered guidance for new wind turbine designs, coordinated on-site evaluations of the students\u2019 new wind turbine models, and facilitated preliminary testing and validation in our wind tunnel facility on TTU campus. We are thrilled to share that the team performed exceptionally in the 2024 National KidWind Challenge held in Minnesota in May 2024, securing <strong>second place in the \u201chigh-speed\u201d (6m\/s) wind subcategory<\/strong> and <strong>first place in the \u201csuper-speed\u201d (10m\/s) subcategory<\/strong>! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since Summer 2023, Dr. Peng Zhang has been collaborating with the Putnam County School System&#8217;s (PCSS) Virtual Instruction to Accentuate Learning (VITAL) school to foster STEM education among high school students. Our lab&#8217;s role primarily revolves around supporting the school&#8217;s KidWind Challenge team, consisting of a dynamic group of talented students and dedicated teachers. As &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/fsml\/vital-kidwind-challenge-team\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">VITAL student-teacher team succeeded in KidWind Challenge<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":168,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-563","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/fsml\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/fsml\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/fsml\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/fsml\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/168"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/fsml\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=563"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/fsml\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":577,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/fsml\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/563\/revisions\/577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/fsml\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}