Scholarship Class 1997

Scholarship Class 1997

The Braille Monitor

August/ September 1997

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PHOTO/CAPTION: 1997

Scholarship winners (left to right, back row: Jason Ewell, Nathanael Wales,

Eugene Skonicki, Darrin Pagnac, Steven Hagemoser, Bill Petrino, Stewart Jenkins,

Rachel Ragland, and Kenneth Silberman. Middle row: Keri Stewart, Stacy Hayworth,

Sumara Shakeel, Latawnya Muhammad, Michelle Lauer, Ameenah Ghoston, Rebecca

Hart, and Jody Lee. Front row: Tonia Valetta, Laura Biro, Diana Knox, Marina

Eastham, Samantha Shlakman, Ivette Valdes, Mariyam Cementwala, Angela Sasser,

and Katharine Chavez.

The

Scholarship Class of 1997

From the Editor: Twenty-six men and

women from Maine to California arrived at the Hyatt Regency, New Orleans, as

members of the National Federation of the Blind scholarship class of 1997. Not

counting their expense-paid trips to the convention, this year the class divided

$88,000 in scholarship awards, which were made at the close of the Friday, July

4, banquet. This year's class is a remarkable group of students--bright, energetic,

and eager to change the world. They met the full convention during the meeting

of the Board of Directors on Tuesday morning. Peggy Elliott, Chairman of the

Scholarship Committee, introduced each of them by saying the student's name,

home state, and school state. This is what first she and then each of them had

to say:

Peggy Elliott: My friends and fellow

Federationists, I once again have the pleasure of introducing to you a new scholarship

class. As I read to you the names of the Scholarship committee, think with me

about how many of these people came to us through the scholarship program. I

am going to read to you now the names of the people who are serving on the National

Federation of the Blind Scholarship Committee, and the list is headed by Dr.

Adrienne Asch, Massachusetts; Michael Baillif, District of Columbia; Bryan Bashin,

California; Rich Bennett, Delaware; Steve Benson, Illinois; Charlie Brown, Virginia;

Carol Castellano, New Jersey; Pam Dubel (a former scholarship winner), Louisiana;

Priscilla Ferris, Massachusetts; Michael Gosse, Maryland (won a scholarship);

Ever Lee Hairston, New Jersey; John Halverson, Missouri; Allen Harris, Michigan;

David Hyde, Colorado; Carl Jacobsen, New York; Judy Jobes, Pennsylvania; Kristen

Jocums (former scholarship winner from Utah); Reggie Lindsey, Tennessee; Sharon

Maneki, Maryland; Jim Marks, Montana; Lynn Mattioli (won a scholarship), Maryland;

Carla McQuillan, Oregon; Homer Page, Colorado; Barbara Pierce, Ohio; Joyce Scanlan,

Minnesota; Steve Shelton, Oklahoma; Debbie Stein, Illinois; Mark Stracks (tenBroek

Fellow, won two), Connecticut; Larry Streeter, Idaho; Ramona Walhof, Idaho;

Melissa Williamson (former scholarship winner from Alabama); Jim Willows, California;

Joanne Wilson, Louisiana; and Gary Wunder, Missouri. Those are the people who

serve on the Scholarship Committee.

As you know, we give twenty-six scholarships

ranging in value from the lowest, $3,000, to the highest, which is ten thousand

dollars. One of these people you are about to meet will leave this convention

with ten thousand more dollars than he or she had at the beginning of the convention.

This is a wonderful scholarship program that helps with the financial need of

going to college or graduate school, but it also helps us to meet these wonderful

men and women and for them to meet us.

I have told them all, and I'll tell them

again that there are 3,000 people who want to meet you, so please wear your

purple ribbons so you can be found. My friends in the audience, I would ask

you to hold your applause until we are done. You will have plenty of time to

applaud these people both here and in other places.

Laura Biro: Michigan, Michigan. Good

morning, fellow Federationists. I'm currently a graduate student at Sienna Heights

College. In addition, I'm doing the certification in orientation and mobility

at Louisiana Tech University in the summers. I hope some day to combine those

two careers somehow and work with the adult population. I also hope to become

a streetwalker, in that I mean to walk the streets and spread the word about

the NFB. Thank you.

Meriyam Cementwala: California, California.

Ladies and gentlemen, hello. I could bore you with the fact that I'm going to

be a Regents' Scholar at UC Berkeley and tell you all about that, but rather

than that, I'll try a new strategy. I'm going to be bluntly honest with you

(a strategy that never worked with my parents). What I would like to say is

that I'm so impressed and overwhelmed with the scholarship committee that selected

me and the people that are my fellow competitors and my fellow scholarship winners

that in the words of Willy Wonka--and those who know me know this best about

me; I love chocolate and I'm a chocolate fiend. So in the words of Willy Wonka,

"NFB, the tension's killing me, and I hope it lasts."

Catherine Chavez: New Mexico, New Mexico.

It has been quite an honor to represent the National Federation of the Blind

for four years. I am a former Vice President and President of the New Mexico

Association of Blind Students, and as of last night I am a newly elected board

member of the National Association of Blind Students. I am currently attending

New Mexico Highlands University and am studying social work. In the fall I will

be completing my junior year and want to continue my education. Thank you very

much.

Marina Eastham: New Mexico, Connecticut,

and this summer D.C. Good morning, fellow Federationists. I am from New Mexico.

I attend Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. I'm studying political science

and also getting my certification in education. I would like to pursue a career

in education as well as become a federal legislator. I would like to lead the

Federation in federal legislation. I have gained so much from the Federation,

and I would like to share my knowledge with all of the future Federationists

of this nation.

Jason Ewell: Ohio, Ohio. Good morning

everyone. Earlier this month I graduated as the valedictorian of my class at

Norwalk High School, and I will be attending John Carroll University in the

fall. My first experience with the National Federation of the Blind occurred

while I was in attendance at the Ohio State School for the Blind when one of

my friends and I wrote a letter concerning a matter of advocacy with which we

were involved to Dr. Jernigan and Mrs. Pierce. That letter was in the Braille

Monitor in August of 1989. Dr. Matson found it worthy of inclusion in the Epilogue

of Walking Alone and Marching Together. So I hope that I may continue in the

future to help to work for all the goals and policies of the Federation, and

also I hope to develop some policies that could serve us all through our lives.

Thank you.

Ameenah Ghoston: Illinois, Illinois.

Hello. My name is Ameenah Ghoston. I'm in Chicago at Roosevelt University. I

believe in making dreams possible. I'm a very big dreamer. I push myself to

the extreme (sometimes killing myself in the process). My lifelong dream is

to receive a Nobel prize in computer science. I am dedicated to do that. Thank

you very much.

Steve Hagamoser: Originally from Iowa,

now from Kentucky. Thank you. I'd like to thank the Scholarship Committee for

this wonderful opportunity. I'm going to be pursuing my doctorate for my fourth

year this fall at the University of Kentucky in a pretty competitive clinical

psychology program. Right now the model number of publications for psychologists,

blind or sighted, is zero. Right now I have two, while still in graduate school,

and I'm working on a third. I think I can safely say by objective standards

that I'm doing okay. I'm what you would call an Iowa Department of the Blind

Adult Orientation Center success story. I came in insecure, self- and life-loathing,

and since then I've been able to do what I've been able to do. Thank you very

much.

Rebecca Hart: Virginia, Virginia. Good

morning. This fall I will be attending Radford University in the southern part

of Virginia. For those of you who know where Virginia Tech is, it's close. I

can date the guys there, but I don't have to do any of the work. I do not know

what my major is yet. My university has a pre-major program that I'm in. I have

a lot of interests, but I don't know where that's going to take me. I would

like to work with the space program. My ultimate goal is to become an astronaut.

Stacy Hayworth: Iowa and Nebraska. Good

morning, one and all. I am a graduate student at the University of Nebraska

at Omaha (not New Orleans). I plan on getting my Ph.D. in business health administration

and follow in the footsteps of Dr. Asch. My concentration is in pediatric medicine.

Unlike this morning's rendition, I cannot carry a tune, but fortunately, every

day of my life, I carry three extra organs. Thank you.

Stewart Jenkins: Georgia, Georgia. Good

morning. This fall I will be continuing my undergraduate years at Georgia Tech.

I will be majoring in physics and computer engineering. I plan to go into graduate

school studying physics. After all those years of listening to college professors

lecture, I plan to do it myself. Let me say that I've only been with the Federation

a short time, but during that time my experience has been a positive one that

I hope will continue to be that way. Thank you all.

Diana Knox: Maine, Maine. Good morning.

I'm a junior at the University of Southern Maine. I'm majoring in psychology.

I must confess I came here because I had a very good incentive--scholarship

money. Well, I've been with you for four days, and a lot has changed. I don't

intend to take the money and run anymore. You Federationists are just wonderful

people. I intend to be active in my local chapter and spread the NFB philosophy.

Our philosophy now is just wonderful. I'd like to thank you for your hospitality

and generosity. Thank you.

Michelle Lauer: Kentucky, Indiana. I

recently graduated from the University of Kentucky in May. This fall I'm going

to start law school at the University of Notre Dame. When I was three years

old, I was scared about my brother riding the bus to school. After months of

confusion, I rode the bus myself and realized that you did not sit on the roof

of the bus, but you climbed into the bus. However, everyone had said, "Look

at Brian get on the bus." Since I couldn't see it clearly, I assumed you

climbed onto the roof. The perspective is different for a blind person and a

sighted person, and I appreciate the multitude of perspectives that I have learned

from all of my friends in the Federation this week. I hope everyone has a wonderful

time. Thank you.

Jody Lee: Florida, Florida. Hi, everybody.

I'm happy to be here today. I'm about to make a big career change in my life.

I am presently employed by the State of Florida, and in the fall am about to

begin to work in the orientation and mobility, rehab teaching master's degree

program at Florida State. I'm legally blind, and it wasn't until after I had

already made all these plans to make these changes, had been admitted to school--everything--that

I learned that apparently there is controversy in this field. I know this is

going to be one of the things that people expect me not to be able to do, but

I'll prove them wrong. I am looking forward later this week to getting my first

cane travel lesson from a BLIND, Inc., teacher.

Latawnya Muhammad: Illinois, Illinois.

Good morning. I have something very special to share with you all today. First

I should tell you that I go to Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Second,

I wanted to share with you that I was born into a Muslim family, and when babies

are born into the family, they give them names that reflect attributes that

they would like them to have. I was the first blind child in my family, so they

really didn't know what I would be capable of. Upon telling my father that I

received a scholarship from the NFB, sending him literature and explaining how

important the NFB was, he decided to give me my name. So next convention I will

be officially Alea Miriam Muhammad. Alea means a star that is rising, Maria

means Mary from the Bible, because my father says that I'm an exceptional mother.

Darrin Pagnac: South Dakota, South Dakota.

Hello. I'm a master's student at the South Dakota School of Mines, studying

vertebrate paleontology. My work involves the meticulous reconstruction of fossil

remains in a laboratory setting as well as the search for new fossil remains

in the field, which involves such great activities as spending weeks on end

living out of a tent; working long hours in the hot, searing sun; and experiencing

such wonderful things as poison ivy, falling rocks, barbed wire, stinging scorpions,

and biting rattlesnakes. It's an interesting life. This is my first NFB convention,

and it's been a very positive experience. Above all else, I am extremely impressed

with the incredible spirit demonstrated by the Federation and all of its members.

Thank you all very much.

Billy Petrino: Louisiana, Louisiana.

Good morning. I'm an entering junior at Louisiana State University in Shreveport,

majoring in mathematics education. Louisiana is the forty-ninth state I've been

in more than two months. People often ask me why I moved so much. It has taken

me until this last year to realize I was looking for a home and a family, and

I found both at the NFB. Thank you.

Rachel Ragland: Missouri, Missouri. Hello,

everyone. First I would like to start by saying the Federation is very new to

me--this is actually my first convention. So far I've learned so much exciting

stuff and met so many of you. Thank you very much. I am attending the University

of Missouri at Rolla. I am majoring in nuclear engineering with a strong emphasis

in environmental engineering. After I graduate from college, I hope to work

with nuclear propulsion and to work with radiation waste management, and if

I'm really lucky and if I spend a lot of hard hours at the nuclear reactor,

I might be my very own light bulb.

Angela Sasser: Louisiana, Louisiana.

Good morning. In the fall I'll be a freshman at Centenary College in Shreveport,

Louisiana, and I'll be studying art history. I hope one day to get a job either

as a professor or in a museum. I am currently a student at the Louisiana Center

for the Blind, and I'm teaching art to the Buddy kids in the kids' program.

I'm also a newly elected board member of the National Association of Blind Students.

Ken Silberman: Maryland, District of

Columbia. Hello, everybody. I'm sort of making a career change or augmenting

it. I'm combining my engineering background with a law degree in attending the

Columbus School of Law at Catholic University this fall. I currently work at

NASA's outerspace flight center and hold a master's degree in aerospace engineering

and a bachelor's degree in astronomy. I serve as President of the Southern Maryland

Chapter--Hi, Maryland, and I serve on the Board of Directors of Volunteers for

the Handicapped, an agency in Silver Spring, Maryland. I would just like to

get personal for a second and thank everyone here for the last twelve years

in helping me to change my life. When I applied for a scholarship the first

time, I was really heading for a life of dependency and great difficulty. I

met people who believed in me and inspired me and helped me; and it turns out

that you were very proud of me. I just want to say that I love you all very

much and thank you.

Gene Skonicki: Illinois, New York. Good

morning, my friends. I am a recent graduate of the Illinois Math and Science

Academy and will be attending the University of Rochester, New York. More than

that, though, this is my first convention experience. I am reminded of a story

that, I think, embodies the spirit of the National Federation of the Blind.

Once Winston Churchill was at a party late at night and found himself a bit

intoxicated. A noble woman in the room commented to him, "Mr. Churchill,

you are quite drunk."

He responded in kind, "Madam, I

may be drunk, but you are ugly. In the morning I will be sober." Thank

you.

Sumara Shakeel: New Jersey, New Jersey,

Delaware. Hello, NFB. I am currently nearing the completion of my undergraduate

work in music therapy at Montclair state University and would like to pursue

a master's degree in occupational therapy and combine the two disciplines in

my work someday. If there is one piece of advice I can give to you newcomers,

it's network, network, network. Because I have learned from personal experience

that that is the way to education and empowerment. Thank you.

Samantha Shlakman: New York, District

of Columbia. When Dr. Jernigan spoke to the Scholarship Class of 1997 on Sunday,

he stated that blind people should never be handed anything on a silver platter.

We should and have to work just as hard to accomplish comparable goals with

all other people. I have never been handed anything on a silver platter--not

to mention any other type of platter--and I know from first-hand experience

the type of hard work that Dr. Jernigan is referring to. This coming fall I

will become a freshman at George Washington University, but that's not the special

part. The memorable part of my story comes when I tell you that at George Washington

I am enrolled in a seven-year BA/MD program, and next year will be my first

year. This program enables me to do three years of undergraduate work and then

automatically enter medical school. There were only eight people out of six

hundred and thirty applicants who enjoyed being selected this year. I can tell

you as well that I will become the first blind person ever to attend George

Washington Medical School. I would like to thank the Board, the people that

selected me as a scholarship recipient, and I would like to commend all of these

hard-working blind people out there who are continuously not asking for things

on platters but earning them through hard work and determination. Thank you.

Keri Stewart: Missouri, Missouri. Good

morning, fellow Federationists. Thank you, I would like to say that I am very

proud to be a member of the Federation. I am attending the University of Missouri,

Columbia. I'm getting my master's in social work and planning and administration

with an emphasis on disabilities. I started my leadership skills back in high

school when I was a drum major for our high school band. Some of you out there

heard me yesterday yelling down the hall where the student seminar was. I didn't

need a microphone yesterday, and I didn't need one back then. I would like to

say, though, that I was a leader then; I'm a leader now; I will be a leader

in the future; and I'm thrilled to be a part of this wonderful organization,

changing what it means to be blind. I want to be a part of it.

Ivette Valdes: Wisconsin, Wisconsin.

Good morning. I am very happy to be here. This is my first NFB convention. It's

very exciting. I am a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

I am in the French Department, working on a dissertation which focuses on women

writers from the French-speaking Caribbean Islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe.

I chose my geographical area very carefully since I know I will be having to

do research there in the future. I hope to be finishing within the next year,

and I hope to follow the example of Professor Asch and go on to teach and do

research at the university level. Thank you very much.

Tonia Valletta: Virginia, North Carolina,

New Mexico. I feel deeply indebted to the members, especially to the leaders

of the National Federation of the Blind, for stretching my thinking by challenging

me to answer the question, "What does it mean to be a truly independent

blind person?" I have now often asked myself that question. It has many

answers, and I have learned some of them, but I hope to learn many more with

your help. Thank you very much.

Nathanael Wales: California, California.

Good morning. I'm a student at the University of California at Davis. I am majoring

in civil engineering, and after I finish my undergraduate work, I would like

to go on to law school and enter a career combining both engineering and law.

I started my studies at the University of California at Davis this past April.

I did that shortly after graduating from the Louisiana Center for the Blind

in Ruston. At the Louisiana Center I not only gained confidence in myself as

a blind person, but I also received very valuable training in many skills including

Braille, cane travel, computers, independent living, and the proper technique

for eating Scottish bonnet in the jambalaya at the House of Blues at the French

Quarter and learning to live to tell about it. Thank you.

Stacy Hayworth, the

1997 $10,000

American Action Fund scholarship winner.

Peggy Elliott: And there, fellow Federationists,

is the class of 1997. [applause]

As you can see, we have an impressive

group of scholarship winners this year. Here are the awards they received:

$3,000 NFB Scholarship: Katharine Chavez,

Marina Eastham, Ameenah Ghoston, Steven Hagemoser, Rebecca Hart, Stewart Jenkins,

Michelle Lauer, Latawnya Muhammad, Rachel Ragland, Sumara Shakeel, Samantha

Shlakman, Keri Stewart, and Tonia Valletta.

$3,000 Frank Walton Horn Memorial Scholarship:

Eugene Skonicki

$3,000 Hermione Grant Calhoun Scholarship:

Ivette Valdes

$3,000 Kuchler-Killian Memorial Scholarship:

Kenneth Silberman

$3,000 Humanities Scholarship: Diana

Knox $3,000 Mozelle and Willard Gold Memorial Scholarship: Mariyam Cementwala

$3,000 Educator of Tomorrow Scholarship:

Bill Petrino

$3,000 Howard Brown Rickard Scholarship:

Darrin Pagnac

$3,000 E. U. Parker Memorial Scholarship:

Laura Biro

$3,000 Computer Science Scholarship:

Nathanael Wales

$4,000 NFB Scholarship: Jason Ewell and

Jody Lee

$4,000 Melva T. Owen Memorial Scholarship:

Angela Sasser

$10,000 American Action Fund Scholarship:

Stacy Hayworth