DATE: Friday, October 24, 1997              TAG: 9710240747

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MILESTONES

CHESAPEAKE

The Chesapeake Kiwanis Club has named Leslie Rosacia Caronan Chesapeake's teen-ager of the year.

An Indian River High School senior, Caronan competed with nominees from each of the city's other high schools.

Caronan, 16, was presented with a $500 scholarship award and a plaque at the Kiwanis Club's fall banquet last month.

In addition to having a 3.49 grade point average, Caronan has been a member of the National Honor Society, a co-chair of the newsletter committee, junior class secretary, co-chair of the teacher/student appreciation committee and a varsity cheerleader.

Caronan hopes to major in physical therapy and perhaps minor in sports medicine in college.

NORFOLK

Norfolk neurosurgeon Charles D. Ray will be awarded the North American Spine Society 1997 Leon Wiltse Award, which recognizes excellence in leadership and/or research in the field of spine surgery. Ray will receive the award tonight at the society's annual meeting in New York.

A founder of RayMedica, Ray invented the Prosthetic Disc Nucleus, a device used to treat patients suffering from incapacitating, chronic low back pain resulting from degenerative disc disease. He also invented the Ray Threaded Fusion Cage Device used in surgery to stabilize and fuse one or two disc spaces of the spine.

Ray is director of research and development at the Spinal Research and Education Foundation in Norfolk, and has been on the staff of the Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins Hospital, the University of Basel in Switzerland, and the University of Minnesota.

PORTSMOUTH

Portsmouth Sheriff Gary Waters recently was selected to receive the Hampton Roads Crime Prevention Association Government Agency Award.

Waters was nominated for the award based on his accomplishments in Portsmouth crime prevention, such as bringing the Drug Abuse Resistance Education Program to the city; creating the Elderly Watch Program; joining TRIAD, a nationwide senior citizens crime prevention program; and establishing the Crime Prevention Unit, which offers many crime prevention programs for youth, teens, adults and seniors. The purpose of the Hampton Roads Crime Prevention Associations awards program is to recognize accomplishments in crime prevention by citizens, businesses, law enforcement and government agencies.

Waters will be presented the award at noon Wednesday during the Hampton Roads Crime Prevention Association's meeting at the Fort Monroe Officers Club.

SUFFOLK

Sue Draper, a biology teacher at Nansemond River High School, has been invited to serve on the National Association of Biology Teachers Steering Committee, in cooperation with the National Science Foundation, to write activity guides for PBS Microbial Literacy Collaborative videos to be aired on Public Broadcasting in 1999.

Draper was the only teacher in the United States to be invited to serve on the committee.

In 1995, she participated in a federal program of hands-on experience in scientific research aboard government-owned ships.

Called ``Teacher at Sea,'' the program pairs educators with scientific and survey missions carried out by the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

She cruised for 10 days in the Bering Sea and studied the food chain of the juvenile pollock, a fish widely used in commercial products.

VIRGINIA BEACH

David Sullivan, 43, the Virginia Beach information technology director, has been selected as chairman of the Local Government Advisory Committee, a group of local information technology directors from throughout Virginia that meets once a month in Richmond.

Sullivan was appointed to the committee two years ago by Gov. George F. Allen. The group currently is working on the Policy on the Development of State Systems Used by Localities, monitoring the progress of the Integrated Criminal Justice Information System and examining the possibilities of a single shared network connection to localities.

Sullivan, a longtime Virginia Beach resident and a Norfolk native, graduated from Kempsville High School and Old Dominion University and has worked for the city of Virginia Beach for 24 years. ILLUSTRATION: Ray

Waters

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