Huron Valley Oakland County Teacher of the Year Nominees to be Honored

Greg Ristau, teacher at Spring Mills Elementary and Wendy Schmitt, teacher at Lakeland High School were recognized during a ceremony Thursday in Waterford.

Oakland Schoolsl honored two Huron Valley educators Thursday during the 26th annual Outstanding Teacher of the Year Awards in Waterford. Greg Ristau, teacher at Spring Mills Elementary and Wendy Schmitt, teacher at Lakeland High School will be recognized during National Teacher Appreciation Week for their contributions in the classroom. Outstanding Teacher of the Year Awards are given each year to teachers at the elementary, middle and high school levels who excel in the following areas. The 2013 winners are Berkley resident Angela Church, who teaches at Berkley High School; Clarkston resident Molly Brinker, who teaches at Addams Elementary in Royal Oak; and West Bloomfield resident Hadeel Azzo, who teaches at John Page Middle School in …

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Huron Valley Educator Works Hard to Give Back to Community

The voice of Lakeland High School, teacher Scott Rolando is making an impact on students and the community.

Editor's note: This story was originally published on June 22, 2012. This is just one example of the many people making a difference in the White Lake and Highland area. Read more about those people here, and leave a comment below to tell us about other people are making a difference every day. Scott Rolando is not not your typical teacher. Rolando, who also has the title of student activities director at Lakeland High School, plans school events and dances, DJs during lunch and announces several sporting events at the school. Most recently, Rolando put together White Lake's first Family Carnival at Lakeland High School. Earlier this week, White Lake Patch interviewed Rolando about life in Huron Valley, and his work in the community. Here'…

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Area Teen Rock Band Will Launch Debut Album in Highland

Bulletproof Snow, a Hartland-based teen band, will debut their new album on March 23 at 59 West.

A Hartland-based teen rock band, Bulletproof Snow, announced the launch of its debut album/EP titled, Punished for my Innocence. The launch party will take place on March 23 at 7 p.m. at 59 West in Highland and will feature music from local artists as well as a performance by the band. There will also be a chance to attend a live studio recording session at Metro 37 Studios in Rochester Hills. Bulletproof Snow consists of four Hartland teenagers, Trey McLaughlin, Jake Yacobelli, Matt Coon and Connor Cheney who have played more than 60 shows in Michigan and Ohio since forming in 2012. The 15 and 16-year-olds have already shared the stage with both regional and national music artists, according to a press release, and “hope to add their name…

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Area Woman Uses Photography to Help Animal Rescues

In 2011 Kelly Nye, a former Highland resident, started taking photos to earn donations for animal rescues with friend Sue Zieske.

Kelly Nye, a former Highland resident, has always had a passion for photography and a love of animals. Nye is now putting her photography skills to use and helping to give back to animal rescues throughout the area. Nye, who owns Creative Dog Photography with friend Sue Zieske, said that while they do have an LLC, they don't consider themselves a business. "We are not interested in doing this (taking photos) for personal profit, we are just a couple of avid photographers who want to use our hobby to raise money for various animal rescue organizations," Nye said. "I've lived in and around Highland and White Lake for the last 25 years. I love it here. We do many of our photo shoots in the beautiful parks and rural settings this area has to …

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Highland Boy Scout Receives Heroism Award

Jonathon Kunnert, 14, is credited with saving the life of an elderly man in Highland. For his efforts, Kunnert received the Heroism Award from the Boy Scouts.

Highland Board Honors Long Time Resident for Dedication to Township

Highland Resident Ross Gofton was recognized by the Highland Township Board of Trustees Wednesday night.

Highland resident Ross Gofton has been to nearly every Highland Township board meeting Supervisor Triscia Pilchowski can remember, dating back to 1987, "and probably even before then," she said. Pilchowski honored Gofton Wednesday night at her last regular board meeting as Highland Township Supervisor. "He misses a few when he's down in Florida," Pilchowski said. "But, even then he's checking up on us." Clerk Mary McDonell explained that Gofton has the meeting agendas sent to him in Florida when he's not in Highland to attend. "He's been a real asset to this community," Pilchowski said. "He reviews the budget with us (the board) every year and if he's not happy with something, he lets us know about it." Pilchowski said she and all of the …

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White Lake's Greg Baroni Eager to Continue Work as Supervisor

Greg Baroni (R) retained his seat Tuesday winning the White Lake Supervisor race in the general election.

Starting Nov. 20, White Lake's Greg Baroni and a three new board members will take the helm at the township - the first order of business will be to have balanced budget in place for 2013. "First of all, I want to thank the residents and voters of White Lake for their support," Baroni said. "We are going to get the new board sworn in at the Nov. 20 board meeting, and start work on several issued facing the township." Those issues, according to Baroni, include maintaining a balanced budget, and addressing some other issues, like the sewer debt, that has been passed along by previous boards for a number of years. "The sewer debt is a big issue, and we need to find a solution," Baroni said. "I also want to get a balanced budget in place - a …

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Military Family Gets Fresh Start Thanks to Home Depot Volunteers

First Lt. Joseph Prapotnik and his family are looking forward to starting a new life in their White Lake home.

When Melanie Prapotnik and her family lived in Warren, they lived in fear. Now White Lake residents, they feel more secure, thanks to a group of volunteers from Home Depot.  Joseph, Melanie's husband, is a 14-year veteran of the Air Force and Army. When he's not training, he's a pilot for Oakland International Airport in Waterford and volunteers time with the Honor Guard at military funerals. "When my husband was gone, I'd sit in the front room with a shotgun at night," Melanie said, explaining they lived in a bad area of south Warren, "where my grandfather had built the house we lived in off Eight Mile."   "My grandma raised her three kids there by herself after my grandfather died at the age of only 40. I moved there and helped my …

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Jordyn Wieber Greets Fans in Novi

The Olympic Gold Medalist signed autographs and posed for photos with fans Wednesday.

Hundreds of fans came out to AT&T in Novi Wednesday to meet Olympic Gold Medal Gymnast Jordyn Wieber. Wieber, a Michigan native, spent two hours in Novi greeting fans, signing autographs and posing for photos. Novi Patch sat down with Wieber before the event began, and talked to her about life after the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Wieber, who is from DeWitt, arrived in Michigan last Thursday and said she is planning on relaxing a little before leaving Tuesday to begin rehearsals for the USA Gymnastics Tour of Champions, which will tour for three months and appear at more than 40 venues. The tour will be in Detroit on Nov. 3. She said life after the Olympics, where she won a gold medal with the U.S. women's gymnastics team, has been …

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Lakeland Star Athlete Garret Zuk Eyes Life After High School

Zuk will start training with Michigan State's cross country team in late August, and said he hopes to continue the success he had at Lakeland as both an athlete and a student.

One day Highland resident Garret Zuk was a stellar scholar athlete going about his life as a normal high school senior. Then suddenly, he was a local celebrity.  He became a celebrity because of the sportsmanship he showed Walled Lake Northern sophomore Devin Kimberlin during a track meet earlier this spring. It all started one day in May – Zuk was at the starting line of one his favorite track races, the 3,200 meter. The race started and Zuk, the favorite to win, took off leading the pack. Behind him was Northern's Kimberlin. Kimberlin, according to a letter written by Northern parent Dave Routledge about the race, had fought all season to break the 10 minute time in this race – something Zuk had done most of the season. At the 800 mark, …

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