WINNING WITH WIND: Langley High School junior Emma Zheng, from left, freshman Halia Ochieng, and Cooper Middle School eighth grader Aaron Zheng celebrate winning third place in the High School Wind Challenge division at the Virginia KidWind State Competition on April 11 at James Madison University. The team earned a $100 prize for their custom-designed turbine, which produced 99.3 joules of energy over 30 seconds.
SOLAR POWERED SUCCESS: McLean High School juniors Akshay Sudhakar, left, and Amine Malouche display their second-place trophy at the Virginia KidWind State Competition on April 11 at James Madison University. The duo competed in the solar division, designing a project that uses solar panels to power a model space station on Mars.
PITCHING THE SPONSORS: Cooper Middle School eighth grader Aaron Zheng, left, and Langley High School freshman Halia Ochieng present their wind turbine engineering data to Google sponsors during the Virginia KidWind State Competition. The hands-on STEM event challenged thousands of students to design and test functional renewable energy systems.