Photograph by Robert Scheer
As moderator of the Saratoga High School conference on Virtual Valley, Wayne Kao spends a lot of time online. He also takes time to play an occasional computer game.
At an age when most kids are still riding bikes and playing games, Saratoga High School student Wayne Kao is bringing the information superhighway to Saratoga. The 15-year-old moderates two conferences--one for the Boy Scouts and one for Saratoga High School--on Virtual Valley, an online service operated by Metro Newspapers and public service television station KTEH (Channel 54). The service encompasses more than 300 individual conferences about various groups and topics.
Kao has been working with his scoutmaster to design a World Wide Web page for his troop.
And as a community service project to earn his Eagle Scout badge, the highest achievement in scouting, Kao has been talking to Saratoga City Manager Harry Peacock about volunteering his time to design a Web page for the city of Saratoga, time for which professional designers often charge thousands of dollars.
Considering that Kao is also freshman class secretary at Saratoga High, competes on the school's debate team, holds a seat on Saratoga City Council's Youth Commission and keeps up his status as a self-described "Star Trek freak" by watching every episode in the science fiction series at least five times, you've got one busy kid--a kid who is going places.
"It's irresistible when there's another thing to run for or do," he said at his Saratoga home, sitting on a couch at least four times his size. "There's never a time when there's nothing to do."
His mother, Lili Kao, said: "He gets really very interested in lots of things and puts lots of energy into whatever he gets interested in. He's self-motivated and very independent." She laughed. "I often joke that I'm just signing the check for him."
Wayne said he pitched the Web page idea to Peacock because he wanted to do something original for his Eagle Scout badge. Most kids build benches for their elementary schools to become Eagle Scouts, he said.
"Argonaut Elementary School has too many benches," he said.
Since September, Kao has written four letters to the City Council and has received two letters back. "They love the idea of a Web page, but they don't want to pay for it," he said.
Web pages usually cost $30 to $40 a month to operate. Los Gatos already has its own Web page.
If it ever gets off the ground, Kao said, he would like to see his Web page become a Saratoga center point, where the city government and Saratoga citizens could debate and discuss their city's needs.
"I'd like to see people actually use it," he said. "I'd like to see councilmembers put it on their business cards."
"People could head on over there and see what events are coming up and what other citizens think about current issues," he said.
Thomas Fil, finance director for the city of Saratoga, said the city has already created a technology master plan that will slowly introduce Web technologies to the area.
"It hasn't been proven among cities that have created Web pages whether there is a high degree of public interest from citizens in it," he said.
"Wayne Kao's offer to us is good," he said, "and I understand his intentions, but we'll have to do this in accordance with our master plan, irregardless of Kao's schedule."
Understandably then, Kao is skeptical as to whether the city will give him the go-ahead. "I've talked to them, but I'm only a freshman," he said. "They don't listen to us."
"If all fails, I can always go and build a bench for Argonaut," he said.
Last summer, when he decided to start the Web page, he picked up an old book on HTML, the computer language used for building Web pages. Spending an hour a week working with the book, he became comfortable with the language by fall.
"Before August, I had never used computers for anything except playing games and doing homework," he said.
Now, he spends about an hour daily on the Web, talking to people from his school and in the community that he said he usually would not talk to.
His work with Virtual Valley involves watching over his two boards, encouraging discussion and stopping people from swearing. In exchange, he receives extra privileges within the system. Kao said he started using Virtual Valley after seeing an advertisement for it in the Saratoga News.
Kao credits his overall interest in the Web to Clark Steinmetz, who teaches the futurism class at Redwood Middle School and encourages all his students to get on the Web.
Steinmetz said he designs his class so that his students will "be aware of the possibilities of the rest of their lives, from genetic engineering to computer technology. These days, technology is going in 15 directions at the same time."
"A year ago, only scientists used the Web," he said. "Three months ago, the Web became more common. Tomorrow, everyone will need a Web page. It's going to be our address book."
In that way, Kao is advancing the vision of the future he discovered in Steinmetz's class.
"He's pushing the envelope," Steinmetz said. "He's a mover and a shaker at his age. He has a vision of the future and wants to be part of it."
That kind of self-motivated adventurousness extends to every part of Wayne's life, Lili Kao said. "This summer, he wants to be a Boy Scout summer camp counselor," she said. "So, he's made his own phone calls and typed his own résumé. All I had to do was drive him to the interview."
Kao has run for student council positions every year since fourth grade, although he has won only twice. "I always ended up running against someone who was really popular," he said.
Lili Kao added, "My friends will tell me, 'I wish my kid had motivation like that.' They'll ask me, 'How did you do it?' "
"In my opinion, I think the parents have to be the role models," she said. "They have to discuss issues with their kids and encourage and talk to them. A parent's influence comes slowly like that."
As to his future, Wayne Kao has ambitious plans. He said he would like to find a career that can incorporate all his interests, from computers to public speaking to the space program.
Knowing Kao, he'll probably find one.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, February 21, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved