Chapel Hill resident and young inventor, Chase Lewis, has been announced as a finalist in the national “Inspire a Future Scientist” video contest.


Click here to vote

The contest encourages young people to provide their own answer to the question: “Why do you love science?” It seeks to give these aspiring minds the opportunity to work in the more than 2.5 million jobs, in fields dealing with science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM jobs that will be available for skilled employees by 2018.

Lewis describes his video project:

“My project includes a 15-second video explaining why I love science,” says Lewis, “showing a couple pictures of me performing scientific feats, or just wondering about the world of science, and also a 300-word blurb detailing similar things in more detail, explaining a little bit more about why I love science in-depth, and my history with science.”

His video is brief, but captures a lot of what Lewis is passionate about. He explains what exactly makes him so excited about the field of science in particular.

“Science allows me to learn about pretty much everything in the world and how it works,” says Lewis, “beyond simple things, like if you drop a ball, it’ll fall and bounce back up. With science, you can learn why it does that, and what those elements of the ball are made of. Basically, I love science because it gives me a really incredible perspective on the universe as a whole.”

Lewis has participated in and won a number of science fairs and competitions, which he says he has greatly enjoyed. He has taken his inventions to many competitions and has received state and national recognition. He has even received two patent applications for each of his latest inventions: the rescue travois and a canister used to easily deliver smoke masks to people trapped in burning buildings.

He took notice of the video contest, not only because he is a member of 4-H, one of the organizations sponsoring the contest, but because of his enjoyment of making videos. He says combining that with his love for science was simply a good idea for him, and made the video on his own.

In order for Lewis to win the competition, however, he is going to need your help.

“The competition is a voting competition,” says Lewis. “So essentially, I need votes, and if you think my video is good, then vote for it.”

The National 4-H Council and HughesNet request that everyone across the U.S. help to inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers, and mathematicians by voting online. You can vote once per day, and voting is open until August 1.

For more information and to vote, click here.

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