Photo: Belmont’s Myles Heller-Baptista was in the spotlight on a national television network’s feature story on the All-American Soap Box Derby

It was a thrill for Chenery Middle Schooler Myles Heller-Baptista to travel to far-off Ohio to participate in the 85th annual FirstEnergy All-American Soap Box Derby this past July.

A Chenery Soup Box Derby club member coached by teacher Leon Dyer, the so-to-be sixth grader got his opportunity to participate in the historic by winning a regional competition held in Arlington.

The trip was even more memorable when a national television network put Myles in the spotlight on its report of the young racers taking part in the historic event in Akron.

The NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt: Kids Edition is a digest of the top headlines, broken down for kids to best understand the world today. The weekly newscast presents feature stories in which kids are the subject. Recent segments explored using musical tips to help retain what kids learned in school over summer break, hip-hop sports, and the Barbie re-phenomenon.

It turned out the network heard through news reports that Myles was on his way and decided that an articulate 11-year-old was just the kid to speak about the his experience driving at the derby.

The link to the feature story is below:

https://www.nbcnews.com/video/nightly-news-kids-edition-august-3-2023-189909061795

And Myles wasn’t the only member of the family in the report. “Dad” Ade Baptista, town meeting member and noted electric car enthusiast, was interviewed for the report.