The Daily Tar Heel
Printing news. Raising hell. Since 1893.
Friday, March 29, 2024 Newsletters Latest print issue

We keep you informed.

Help us keep going. Donate Today.
The Daily Tar Heel

13-year-old Chapel Hill resident lands finalist spot in Smithsonian challenge

	Chase Lewis shows off his invention while visiting then-Gov. Bev Perdue in September. He is a finalist in the Smithsonian Invent It Challenge. 

	Photo courtesy of Michelle Lewis.

Chase Lewis shows off his invention while visiting then-Gov. Bev Perdue in September. He is a finalist in the Smithsonian Invent It Challenge.

Photo courtesy of Michelle Lewis.

Chase Lewis is a scientist, engineer and inventor from Chapel Hill competing with international peers.

And he’s only 13.

Lewis’ latest invention — a triangular cart called a ‘travois’ used to help refugees transport their children to refugee camps — recently caught international attention, winning him a spot as one of 16 finalists in the Smithsonian Invent It Challenge.

Lewis said he became interested in helping refugees when his mother showed his family an article about the horrors refugees faced during the Somalia famine.

He said he learned that parents were forced to leave behind their children if they could not be carried and were too tired to walk.

His mother, Michelle Lewis, said her son was surprised there were no transportation options for the parents.

“It shocked him,” she said.

In search of a solution, Chase Lewis designed and built a travois and entered it into the Smithsonian challenge.

Chase Lewis said if he wins the challenge, he will be able to patent his invention, which took him about a year to complete.

Despite the allure of winning the challenge, Lewis said he just wants to help those in need.

“I like to help if there’s a situation that needs helping,” he said.

Michelle Lewis credits home schooling with encouraging her son’s love of science. She said he is also able to devote more time to science.

“He wouldn’t have had that time in a public school,” she said.

She said the family talks about science at home, subscribes to science magazines and watches documentaries.

Michelle Lewis said her son has been interested in science and engineering for a long time, designing inventions since the age of six.

She said her father, also a scientist, has been a mentor to Chase.

But for students in public schools, Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt said, there are also options to be involved in science.

He said Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools offers an encouraging environment for budding scientists as well as students with other interests.

“We produce some of the greatest young minds in the country,” he said.

Kleinschmidt also said he has known the Lewis family for a long time.

“They are smart and creative and engaged in our community,” he said.

To get the day's news and headlines in your inbox each morning, sign up for our email newsletters.

“It was wonderful to see (Chase Lewis) participating in the project and making our world a better place. I hope he’ll be successful,” Kleinschmidt said.

Chase Lewis said learning about the world and how things work is a good way to encourage young people to become interested in science.

For now, he said, he is not working on another invention — but he is creating a 3-D model of a board game.

The results of the Smithsonian Invent It Challenge are expected to be released today.

Contact the desk editor at city@dailytarheel.com.

Special Print Edition
The Daily Tar Heel's Collaborative Mental Health Edition