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RALEIGH – This week, 40 young ladies put their minds to work, trying to inventing the next big thing we can’t live without by participating in Time Warner Cable’s “Wouldn’t It Be Cool If…” campaign.

This program challenges kids ages 10 through 15 to dream up the coolest thing to make their life, community or even the world more awesome, and to think about how science and math could help bring those ideas to life.

Eighth grader Jayda Lewis has always had interest in engineering, even as a little girl.

“When I was little I would always play with my brother's Legos,” said Lewis.

Now, thanks to the "Wouldn't It Be Cool If" initiative, she has a chance to make her dreams of creating and inventing reality.

“The few ideas I have are the unbreakable phone case,” she said. “Most teens when they drop their phones the screen cracks and they have to buy a new phone, but I created an idea to have an unbreakable case.”

The contest motivates kids to think outside of the box, something engineering professionals say is more critical now than ever.

“Talk about where do inventions come from, where do ideas come from, to try and show them that they can create inventions themselves,” said Dr. Laura Bottomley, director, Women in Engineering program at N.C. State University. “There are some pretty serious things at stake here. The U.S. has been a leader in the industry for a long time and we're on the verge of losing our supremacy, but what we still have is our ability to innovate.”

Leaders with the Raleigh Girls Club said "Wouldn't It Be Cool If..." is a great opportunity for kids to see the "cool" side of school.

“I love getting to see them excited, speak about their ideas and inventions, submit for the contest,” said Erin Mitchell, club director, Raleigh Girls Club.

The excitement carries onto the students and Jayda already has her eye on the prize.

“People ask who created that, [I want] to be able to say, Jayda Lewis did,” she said.