Our wind turbine team consists of Connor and Soren. This was technically Connor’s first year and Soren’s second year with Makersmiths KidWind STEM group. We started this wind turbine project the fall before COVID hit, and cancelled the competition. So this year, we decided to enter our wind turbine in KidWind-VA 2021 competition. Our documentation explains that we began development of our wind turbine by learning about gears. A retired electrical engineer helped us understand how adding a gearbox to the wind turbine would improve our wind turbine’s performance. Then we learned to use an online gear design program and the laser cutter to make gears. Next, we researched blade designs and drew blades that we wanted to make. Soren made his blades from cardboard, but Connor worked with his grandfather to create his blades from wood. We tested out our blades in a wind tunnel we built at Makersmiths. Then we learned Tinkercad to design blades that could be 3D printed or laser cut. I decided to cut my second set of blades on the laser cutter but Connor decided to stick with his original wooden blades. After testing our blades again with the gearbox that Soren created, we determined that Soren’s blades out performed Connor’s wooden blades when the gearbox was used. Our biggest challenge was when we tested our wind turbine at the Northern Virginia wind tunnel testing day. We completed one good test, but on the second test, a piece broke off our gearbox and we were unable to tighten one blade. Please read our documentation for more details. It will be sent to KidWind-VA to make available to the judges.