After national invention contest, Holton's Addie Bartels will be able to take on the world

HOLTON — Addie Bartels is a one-of-a-kind girl, two times over.

The Holton Middle School eighth-grader only recently learned how to fully pronounce familial exudative vitreoretinopathy — the disease that has severely limited her eyesight ever since she was born.

She only asks that you don't hold her to spelling it yet.

"She’s rare even within the rare," said her dad, Leslie Bartels. "She was No. 74 in the country to be diagnosed with FEVR since 1968. Most people only get it in one eye, if you do get it. She got it in both."

More:Jackson Bevan will fix your vacuum when others can't. Oh, and he's in fourth grade.

If the disease has had any impact on her life, it's mostly been in learning how to approach tasks and homework differently. Addie likes most everything about school — "except maybe physical education." Teachers work through Braillists at the Kansas State School for the Blind to transcribe her work and assignments to a format she can more easily read.

"It's just been about asking for help, if needed," she said.

That's why Addie is excited, if not ready to win it all with two of her friends, for the Make48 inventors competition this weekend at the Kansas State School for the Blind.

More:Five years in, Shawnee Heights High agriculture program isn't just growing. It's thriving.

How the Make48 Competition works

Started in 2015, Make48 is a Kansas City-based, invention competition docuseries in which teams have 48 hours to design a new product to meet a given design challenge.

But the catch is, the competing teams are tasked only with the hardest part of inventing: dreaming.

Each team — made up of regular, everyday people — work with teams of makers and technicians, provided by the competition organizers, to actually build their ideas, using tools and materials also supplied by the competition.

Although Make48 has toured the U.S., this weekend's competition at the Kansas State School for the Blind will be the first of its kind, with a goal of showing that anyone with a great idea can be an inventor.

More:How eighth-grader Carter Vincent helps history come alive at the Combat Air Museum

"It sends a message that STEM is for all students, and that those who are blind can display their intelligence, creativity, and team-building skills alongside community and business leaders," school superintendent Jon Hardin said in a release. "This competition will allow students to build relationships with adults and peers in a positive, exciting environment."

While the full docuseries airs nationally on outlets like PBS and Roku's "This Old House Makers Channel," the Kansas State School for the Blind competition will serve more like a qualifier for season six of the docuseries, which will be filmed in March 2023. The winner of the competition held at the school will advance and also receive $2,000.

Make48 competition will be new experience for Addie Bartels

When Addie first heard about the competition from Julie Martson, a Teacher of Students with Vision Impairments at the Kansas State School for the Blind, she wasn't sure what to think.

For years, Addie has received services from the school, and recently, she has spent a month every summer at the school's facility in Kansas City, Kan., to learn life and social skills that can be difficult to learn in a regular school environment.

But with the encouragement of teachers like Marston, Addie came around, especially when she learned she would get to compete with two of her closest friends she's made at the school.

"It’s the first time I’ve done anything like it, and I’m excited to try something new," Addie said.

Addie and her friends are calling themselves the Wild Wings, in keeping with this weekend's competition theme "chicken in the kitchen," and their team will be captained by Christina Twardowski, an ophthalmologist at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City.

More:Tarwater Farm & Home Supply is expanding Holton site after celebrating 44 years in business

'The only disability is attitude'

The teams won't find out their exact challenge until the start of the 48-hour competition, but Addie harkens back to the advice her parents have given her since she first realized she was different — that "the only disability is attitude, and with the right one, Addie can overcome anything."

"There really isn’t any way to get ready, but we’re all excited," Addie said. "We all became close friends this last summer, so we’re all excited. Hopefully, we can win the $2,000, but if not that, I know we’ll have a great experience and a lot of fun, especially in getting to hang out with some friends."

One day — but not too far off into the future — Addie will walk across the stage at Washburn University's Lee Arena, with a degree in special education.

She hopes to return to a district like Holton, and help other students who have been in her shoes.

"I want to be able to help students and other kids understand that even if they have a disability, they can still accomplish anything they set their mind to, like I’m doing," Addie said.

Rafael Garcia is an education reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached at rgarcia@cjonline.com or by phone at ‪785-289-5325. Follow him on Twitter at @byRafaelGarcia.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Holton 8th grader competing at Make48 at Kansas School for the Blind