In Loving Memory of Ruby

PROJECTS MADE POSSIBLE THROUGH DONATIONS TO THE RUBY SHIAU CHIANG MEMORIAL FUND

Thanks to the generous donation of family, friends, and local businesses towards the Ruby Shiau Chiang Memorial Fund, Our goal is to honor Ruby's memory by contributing to philanthropic projects to benefit the community of West Windsor.  Here are updates on projects that have been possible due to these contributions.

PROJECTS FOR 2024

The two seniors who were awarded the Ruby Shiau Chiang Memorial Scholarship in 2024 were Olivia Duguay OF WWP High school South and Tanya Vijay of WWP High School NortH.

Ruby had the pleasure of being one of Olivia’s first softball coaches early in her sports career. Olivia impressed us with her leadership qualities. It was evident to us that in addition to her clear love of sport, Olivia embraces the concept of promoting teamwork, and helping others excel through her own drive to be excellent, hard working, and positive. She also was a leader at school by being elected to the student council all 4 years of high school.! Despite her busy academic and athletic schedule, as the eldest sister of four, she showed a great deal of maturity and responsibility in her contributions at home as well. Her ability to balance so much so well was quite amazing.. Tanya impressed us with her deep dedication and compassion for her work with neurodiverse youth. She worked with Project YASH, a non profit organization that provided online activities for neurodiverse youth. Her interactions with her young students were not just purely academic. Tanya clearly cared for and bonded with her students, opening their worlds to new experiences and empowering them to be able to express themselves and build self-confidence. Her philosophy of empowerment spilled over into her role as the mechanical captain of her robotics team.. She mentored other female participants by creating a course using her own expertise to teach female teammates as well as other girls across NJ tools to succeed in robotics. She is clearly a leader that empowers others with care.

9th Annual Ruby Shiau Chiang Memorial Scholarship was presented to TANYA VIJAY of WWP North

PROJECTS FOR 2023

The two seniors who were awarded the Ruby Shiau Chiang Memorial Scholarship in 2023 were ADiti Anand OF WWP High school South and Edward Simon Cruz of WWP High School NortH.

Ruby’s Kids, Kevin and Julia, were able to present these awards to their fellow Class of 2023 graduates in honor of their mom this year.

We selected ADiti because of her extraordinary ability to spread both happiness and cultural awareness to those around her. She developed a passion for gardening which her mother and grandmother already possessed as it became a healing activity for her family after her grandfather had passed. She created NSM plants in honor of her dear grandfather and transformed this love of gardening into a community-serving business which emphasized the cultural value of the beautiful plants that she sold, We were impressed by her selfless leadership and creative pioneering stemming from an activity created out of the love for her family.. We were equally impressed with Edward for his ability to spread encouragement and positivity to others around him. It’s the small things that go the longest way, and as the leader of the quiz bowl club, He had a healthy sense of competition and motivated his team through humor and pep talks. he took the time to Help those who were struggling to become more confident. He also showed a mature appreciation and understanding of the need to embrace failures and grow from them. These efforts to motivate those around him while maintaining a positive atmosphere epitomized that of a humble, dedicated, and dependable leader.

8th Annual Ruby Shiau Chiang Memorial Scholarship was presented to ADiti Anand of WWP South.

8th Annual Ruby Shiau Chiang Memorial Scholarship was presented to Edward Simon Cruz of WWP North.

PROJECTS FOR 2022

We were able to award the Ruby Shiau Chiang memorial scholarship this year to these 2 seniors: Melissa Liu and Abhinav Mukherjee. Melissa Liu was our recipient from WWP HIGH SCHOOL South. MElissa wrote about her passion to better understand mental health issues to positively impact those who may be at risk.. She did quite a bit of research on her own and even interned at the Social-Emotional Character Development Lab. There, she worked on a project with older students to help school districts embed core values of forgiveness, empathy, and motivation to promote mental stability among students. She became a student advocate FOR preventative measures to maintain good mental health which we found so admirable. Abhinav Mukherjee was our recipient from WWP HIGH SCHOOL NORTH. His essay was an artistic take on how olfactory senses triggered memories about his relationship with family and his outlook on how he lives his own life. Ruby was very close to her siblings growing up: his responsible and loving care for his younger brother REALLY struck a chord.. He also conveyed a sense of excitement for academic pursuits while also being mindful of balancing those with familial and personal interests. He beautifully used the neutral scent of a blank notebook and the scents of erasers and graphite that OVERLAY the notebook as a metaphor for the marks he hopes to leave on this world as he looks forward to seeing what the future brings.

7th Annual Ruby Shiau Chiang Memorial Scholarship was presented to Melissa Liu of WWP South by (Left to right) Julia, Kevin, Kelly, and Rob

7th Annual Ruby Shiau Chiang Memorial Scholarship was awarded to Abhinav Mukherjee. of WWP NORTH by (Left to right) Julia, Kevin, and Rob

KEVIN AND JULIA HONOR THEIR MOM BY ORGANIZING DONATION OF 250 bags of NEEDED SUPPLIES to LOAVES and FISHES COMMUNITY OF THE DIOCESE OF TRENTON

See the TOUCHING SToRY HIGHLIGHTED BELOW ON THEIR SCHOOL WEBSITE

https://www.lawrenceville.org/life-at-lawrenceville/news-events/news-detail/~board/school-news/post/lawrentians-donate-to-loaves-and-fishes

PROJECTS FOR 2021

two more scholarships were awarded this year to Two deserving seniors: Lionel Quaynor and MEG Hanson.. Lionel Quaynor was our recipient from WWP high school north, Lionel impressed us with his well written essay. Not only was it entertaining to reaD, But it really captured how he tackles challenges head on..  We were struck by his “all in” attitude as he described his dedication towards mastering Mandarin by actively seeking and immersing himself in Chinese culture. This perseverance and drive are qualities that reminded us very much OF HOW RUBY LIVED her life. He was also able to share his love of learning with kids by being a tutor at Grant Elementary School and the Community House STEAM Camp at the John H. Pace Center at Princeton University. He also worked as a Code Sensei at his local Code Ninja and worked virtually at Codeninja teaching students about engineering using Arduinos through TinkerCad. MEG Hanson Was this year’s recipient for WWP High School South. Meg was fortunate enough to have had Ruby as her softball coach during her first year playing softball on the 2013 Little League scarlet knights softball team..  She relayed that Ruby was her first female coach and helped inspire Meg’s love for softball (she will be a collegiate softball athlete). Meg wrote how Role models like Ruby and other women in her life have shown her the importance of female mentors in shaping a young girl’s path: she, too, has paid it forward. She helped to umpire softball games, interacting with younger players in much the same way Ruby used to. She Also taught 6 different students, exposing them to her love of STEM activities to mentor young girls to pursue their own dreams and pursuits as well.

The 6th annual Ruby Shiau Chiang memorial award Went to Lionel Quaynor of WWP high school north..

PROJECTS FOR 2020

this year we are pleased to award two more scholarships to Two deserving seniors: Lianne Quaynor and Annabell Su.. Lianne Quaynor was our recipient from WWP high school north, LIanne clearly showed a passion for service and helping others. What started out as a volunteering opportunity to help 4th grade students led to the realization that childhood hunger is a Grim reality in neighborhoods surrounding her own. She became acutely aware of this as she recounted watching a student of hers hungrily down his breakfasts just before the tutoring sessions began. Her own observation led to a curiosity about the situation of the kids that she was tutoring. she discovered from the program director that many of the kids did not necessarily have access to 3 full meals each day. She took it upon herself to donate some of her own money to the program to provide meals for the kids and was able to collect money from other tutors’ families to help the program out as well. She also clearly bonded with her student as she saw his confidence build while helping him on his academic skills. her maturity and compassion upon discovering her students’ social situation really exemplified the spirit of service to others. Annabell Su from WWP high school south was selected for her devotion to her brother. Her love for her brother was evident through her support for him as he fought his battle with lymphoma. she took a trying family moment and played her own part in the fight against childhood cancer By partnering with a local company, Princeton Madeleine, to organize a fundraiser. she and a few friends spent countless hours packing and selling over 500 boxes of cookies packed with a personalized note about her brother’s journey to spread awareness about childhood cancer. In the end, she was able to raise $6000 to donate to the CHildren’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The power of the sibling bond was so evident in her actions.

PROJECTS FOR 2019

two worthy seniors were awarded the Ruby Shiau Chiang Memorial Scholarship this year: Ronak Ramachandran of WWP South High School and Maddie Russell of WWP North High School. Ronak wrote of his experience planning the West Windsor-Plainsboro Math Tournament. In addition to the huge task of organizing such a large event, what was most impressive about Ronak was his commitment to making mathematics education assessable to all. he was able to convince his school to donate their annual profit of $1500 to the mathematics department of an underprivileged school district to help boost mathematics education for these kids. He also wanted to encourage more females to participate in planning and competing in the event and took concrete steps to create a girls’ Division to encourage more girls to highlight their mathematical strength. his active mathematical outreach to others made the event even more special. Maddie was the Captain of the varsity basketball team this year. She exhibited the traits of a true athlete leader. her beloved teammates were her second family, and her strong sense of responsibility to them was palpable in her essay. She led the team not only on the court as point guard but also by example through hard work , grit, and positivity. By coincidence, we found out after selecting Maddie as the recipient of Ruby’s award that maddie’s father had coached softball with ruby in the past.

PROJECTS FOR 2018

1. We were Pleased to award two more scholarships to deserving seniors this year: MICHELLE LIU of WWp South High School and AMANDA CHUANG of WWP North High school.  Michelle shared her experiences of being team captain for her tennis team. she showed an aptitude for developing players to bring out their potential and create a strong sense of team bonding. Her positive leadership style created a supportive Camaraderie that led the team to success. AMANDA showed a keen sense of spreading kindness to others in different aspects of her own life.  She used her observations of nurses during her experience in the NICU and felt a common desire to show compassion, caring, and gratitude towards others that she so respected in the Nicu nurses.

2.  Batting cage added to the Ruby Shiau Chiang Memorial Field. We are pleased to announce that we were able to use generous donations to Ruby's fund to have a batting cage installed at Ruby's Softball field.  Thank you to Metz Athletic Construction for completing this wonderful addition to her field.

PROJECTS FOR 2017

1. Two scholarships were awarded this year to two deserving seniors: Virginia Jiang of WWp South High School and Natalie Everett of WWP North High school. Virginia demonstrates the virtues of a compassionate scholar who plans on using her interest in Chemical engineering towards the goal of sustainable development.  She demonstrated a drive to help others by leading a team that lobbied state legislators to limit lead exposure in urban areas of NJ and devised a method to allow special olympic swimmers to get in and out of pools more easily, She hopes to "build long-term technological solutions to repair the gaps in healthcare infrastructure in the developing world." Natalie is a scholar-athlete who excelled both in school and on the basketball court. She has the terrific qualities of an athlete with grit and a deep competitive drive who also understands and appreciates the role of the team as a whole.  AS team captain fighting through an injury, she was able to lead her team to a Mercer County Tournament victory. 

PROJECTS FOR 2016

1. The inaugural Ruby Shiau Chiang Memorial Scholarship was awarded to graduating senior of WWP South High School, Katherine Giminaro.  Katherine created a program for elementary school students to understand at a young age the importance of kindness to others and the negative effects of bullying.  She exemplified the wonderful qualities of Ruby, and we were pleased to award her with our first award. 

2. This year, we also raised significant funds to be able to renovate and then dedicate the  Ruby Shiau Chiang Memorial Field at West Windsor Community Park  on July 30, 2016.  Click here to read the article about the dedication ceremony. With the generous donations  of friends, family, and local businesses, we were able to install a scoreboard, make dramatic improvements to the infield, build bullpens, and place commemorative benches behind home plate. We hope to add further renovations such as improvements to the dugouts and batting cages in future years