'Wind Warriors' Compete In National Tournament

KidWind Warriors Bain Anderson and Aubrey Hegwood pose for a photo at a stop on their way to the national competition. Although the duo didn't come home with a win, they are ready and able to compete again next year

Courtesy Photo

KidWind Warriors Bain Anderson and Aubrey Hegwood pose for a photo with coach Kim Sandoval in Arizona.

Courtesy Photo

Posted Wednesday, June 4, 2025 12:07 pm

The Wind Warriors

Middle School (6-8) | Wind Only

We are bold risk-takers with a passion for learning, exploring, and applying our thoughts and skills to real-life situations.

We are “THE WIND WARRIORS”: Bain Anderson and Aubrey Hegwood. We are proud and grateful for the opportunity to represent our generous community of Ulysses, Kansas, a small town in the Great Plains of the United States. We have been working on Kid Wind projects at Kepley Middle School under the guidance of our Coach, Kim Sandoval, for two years. Our whole first year was spent with the basic Kid Wind gears and components, but this year we decided to take the leap of building our own home-built generator. The learning curve has been steep, and we have a long way to go, but it sure has been fun! As we make our way through prototype designs and on into designing and 3-D printing our parts, we have encountered many challenges, from the most basic issues of coil polarity and quality connections to catastrophic failure due to vibration and other mishaps. We look forward to competing and sharing ideas with youth from around the world. - Courtesy KidWind Website

Special to the Ulysses News

Kepley Middle School 7th Grade "Wind Warriors" Aubrey Hegwood and Bain Anderson traveled to Phoenix, Ariz.; recently to compete in the national Kid Wind tournament, but unfortunately, didn't get any hardware.

According to Coach Kim Sandoval not getting any hardware has not put a stop on their warrior attitude - they are already planning and plotting their next innovative ideas!

"The boys were in Phoenix for almost a week, and focused on their project," Sandoval said.

The photo left are the State of Kansas KIDWind winners, and Kansas was the most represented in the nation.

"There were more than 650 kids, 26 different states and three countries: Taiwan, Mexico and Estonia was observing," said Sandoval.