WABI covers wind turbine challenges
WABI (Channel 5) reported on two middle and high school STEM competitions at the University of Maine Advanced Structures and Composites Center. About 300 students participated in the Kleinschmidt Windstorm Challenge and ninth annual Maine Wind Blade Challenge, WABI reported. For the Kleinschmidt Windstorm Challenge, high school students designed and constructed a scale-model floating wind turbine platform, tested the design and delivered a business plan and sales pitch to a panel of expert judges. The Maine Wind Blade Challenge connected teams of middle and high school students with composites companies to construct and infuse a functional set of wind blades. Each team’s goal was to manufacture an assembly that would generate the most energy in up to three minutes. “It’s very exciting for us to truly inspire the kids to become the entrepreneurs of the future,” said Habib Dagher, executive director of the UMaine Composites Center. “So these kids will eventually develop businesses in the state of Maine and create opportunities and create jobs.” WAGM (Channel 8 in Presque Isle) also interviewed a team of four Caribou High School students who took home the top prize at the Kleinschmidt Windstorm Challenge.