Naperville parade queen looks forward to just 'soaking it in'

Shannon Kelly Webster has this dream.

It's a few years from now and she's just graduated from Marquette University with a degree in broadcast communications and she's about to get her own TV show.

And once she gets it, she captures the hearts and minds of her viewers, just like Oprah.

She doesn't want to replace the Big O - nobody can do that - she just wants to follow in her footsteps.

"I absolutely love Oprah," she says. "My mentor is Oprah. I'd like to have my own show one day in my dream world."

Shannon's already been in the Oprah audience once. Now she hopes to be invited to actually appear on the show with some students in an adaptive physical education program at Naperville Central High School - a program that focuses on teens with mental and physical disabilities.

But to become her own version of the Queen of Entertainment, well, that's her real goal.

Shannon knows about goals and dreams. Over the past several months, she's learned a little about being a queen, too.

Poise & intelligenceThe folks who interviewed the candidates for this year's queen of the West Suburban Irish St. Patrick's Day Parade in downtown Naperville will tell you flat out that Shannon wowed them in every possible way. They will tell you about her poise and intelligence.They will tell you about her success at school (the senior works on the Central yearbook and loves creative writing) and as a lector and religious education class leader at St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church. They will tell you how she didn't flinch at the very first question out of the box: What are the benefits and detriments of your Irish heritage? And then, How does your Irish heritage shape who you are and what you can become? She looked them right in the eye and talked about her pride in her ethnic background, her desire to visit Ireland, her strong morals and her spiritual beliefs, and they just melted. Here's the funny thing: Shannon had never heard of the West Suburban Irish until this year.Oh, she rode in the parade several times with her grandfather, a member of the Naper A's Model A Ford Club. She rode again a while back in a car supporting Dianne McGuire, one of her former teachers who was running for state representative.But she didn't know a thing about the people behind the parade until her grandmother showed her the queen application form and Shannon saw the $250 scholarship that comes with the crown and decided to go for it."It looked like a good opportunity for me, and I figured, what the heck," she says.Saturday will be the first time Shannon has ever been on a float. She's already had the chance to work on her royal wave, though, because her classmates elected her Central's homecoming queen last fall."Unexpected things are falling in my lap," she says.She says her friends are happy for her and supportive, but she knows she must tread carefully so they don't start whispering, "now she's going to be the queen of everything." Still, she says she's excited to perform all of the parade queen's duties - including an appearance last week at a dinner-dance and another one Thursday at an Irish Mass."It's an honor. I can't believe it," she says. "I'll just be soaking it in all day."Stress the positiveShannon Webster has a philosophy of life. "I try to look at it with a positive view," she says. Sure, you say. How hard can it be? Homecoming queen. St. Patrick's Day queen. Smart. Pretty. Heading to Marquette. Kid's got it made. Kid's also got cerebral palsy. Already been through five operations. Rides a standing scooter - one she decorates for every holiday. See her on St. Patrick's Day and her scooter probably will be decked out with a green boa and shamrock garland and a big ol' shamrock on the front.The queen, it seems, likes to face her challenges like she faced the judges: straight on, without blinking. "I like to look at it as a different ability and not a disability," she says. "My ultimate theme is hope ... an inspiring story about a person overcoming the odds and having hope in their back pocket and using it as a weapon."Dreams for Shannon If it's OK for us to have a dream for Shannon Webster, maybe it would go like this.The sun is shining brightly Saturday and it warms her face as she smiles and waves to the crowd. Everywhere she looks there are happy people decked out in green and then, suddenly, she does a double-take.There, standing along the route, is Oprah. And Oprah is smiling and waving right back because she sees something special in Shannon. She sees a little bit of herself. "You can dream," Shannon says. "That's my philosophy."True20001417Shannon Webster is a senior at Naperville Central High School who will serve as queen of the West Suburban Irish St. Patrick's Day parade in downtown Naperville. "I'll just be soaking it in all day," she says.Tanit Jarusan | Staff PhotographerTrue