TOP AWARD: Shannon Ramsay was one of three top winners of the Mary P. Oenslager Scholastic Achievement Award, given annually to visually impaired college seniors who show extraordinary scholarship, leadership, enterprise and service to others.
Ramsay, a law student at UC Davis, won $6,000 from the nonprofit company Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic. Ramsay has needed aids since she was in the fourth grade. But her attitude has continued undaunted. She doesn't ask herself if she can accomplish what she wants to do, but how.
Witness: she is the inventor of two aids for the blind—one of which she and her partner hold a 2001 patent on and will try to market. That invention is a hand-held unit that picks up human speech and transmits it to a miniature Braille display in phonetic Braille code.
She developed the code while on the LGHS speech team, where she was giving a speech that Helen Keller had given. The Ramsays live in the Santa Cruz Mountains and Shannon is an accomplished horsewoman. As her eyesight deteriorated, she continued to ride by inventing a special stirrup.
Spring-loaded retractable car antennas were welded to a set of stirrups. From the sound of the antennas hitting the fence, Shannon could figure out her horse's location. Ramsay's invention was featured in Horse Illustrated.
Besides graduating from Stanford with a 3.2 GPA, Ramsay volunteered as a reading tutor for students with dyslexia in a special ed class and in a magnet school for children with severe emotional problems and developmental disabilities.
She played piano at retirement homes and the vet hospital, and acted as a mentor for Women and Youth Supporting Each Other, a group that works with at-risk girls in East Palo Alto. Additionally, Ramsay became the first blind person in the Stanford in Washington program.
She held an internship with Senator Tom Harkin, was also an intern for the U.S. State Department of Civil Rights and studied in Berlin through Stanford's Overseas Studies Program. At Davis she is majoring in international law and public interest. Anyone else feel inadequate?
ASIAN AMERICAN HONORS: Ten community activists were celebrated for their grass-roots leadership recently in a tribute organized by Santa Clara County Supervisor Liz Kniss called Asian American Heroes. Mabel Lai of Los Gatos and Cynthia Chang of Saratoga were two of those celebrated.
Lai is active with the county Self Help for the Elderly program, which she helped found. She is president of the agency and volunteers at the Sunrise Center in Santa Clara, a residential care home for frail elderly Chinese. She serves 15 to 20 hours weekly. Lai has helped develop four centers.
These centers offer classes in English, citizenship, cooking and exercise, as well as such entertainment as opera.
Lai teaches Chinese, volunteers at Ming Quong and is executive board member of the Chinese Historical and Cultural Project. She is the former owner of Mabel's Lantern House Restaurant in Los Gatos.
Chang was the first Asian-American elected official in Saratoga, having served nine years on both Saratoga's elementary and high school boards. She was liaison for the schools in the recent Building Bridges celebration of cultural diversity.
Others honored were Evan Low, Hee Kim, Dean Chu, Ben Menor, Gilbert Wang, Anil Godhwani, Pearl Lee and Ann Woo.
MARKETING MAVEN: Mark Weiner of Los Gatos has been named vice president of worldwide marketing for NetScaler. As such, he is responsible for marketing strategy—field marketing, product marketing, corporate communications, analyst relations.
BOOKSIGNING: Brett Carlson, who grew up in Los Gatos, is the author of Cowboy Now, a harrowing adventure story of a group of men crossing the Patagonian ice fields of South America. Carlson will sign books at Borders in Old Town Nov. 8, 35 p.m.
WATERWORKS: Karen Bedard won a $50 prize for her watercolor "Sedona Fountain" now on display in Town Council Chambers, part of the exhibit by the Los Gatos Art Association with a water theme.
Elke Groves, president of the LGAA, asked a representative of the water company to choose the artwork to be featured on the postcard promoting the show. But a glitch occurred and Judy Glickman, wife of Vice Mayor Steve Glickman, saved the day by picking the watery winner. A reception will be held Nov. 7, 68 p.m.
ONLINE PRESENTER: An online conference for the small-business owner is being held Nov. 57 and Los Gatan Ric Giardina is one of the presenters. Strategies for business success in today's market is the focus. The e-conference producer is Diane Fleck at dfleck@itswithin.com.
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By Mary Ann Cook