Election Tuesday!

Don't forget to vote Tuesday! The polls are open from 7am to 8pm at the Shelby Township Offices next to the US Post Office in downtown Shelby. This is the only polling location for the entire school district.

Regardless of the outcome of the election, my family and I will continue to care deeply about education and we will remain committed to helping Shelby Schools maintain traditional family values. We will also retain our deep and sincere appreciation for the teachers, coaches and administrators who have had such an amazing impact in the lives of our children.

Thank you!
Warren & Karen

Pete Hoekstra on Education Reform!

The following is an excerpt from Pete Hoekstra's website regarding education reform. He is requesting that we contact him with our views. Let's put forth our ideas so that the voice of Shelby is heard in Washington! Here is the excerpt:

Help Reform K-12 Education

As Congress begins work on reauthorizing K-12 education I want to hear from you.
In 2001, Congress passed one of the most restrictive and costly education bills with the passage of No Child Left Behind. The law included unfunded mandates for our state and our local schools, and largely restricted local control of education.

I want to hear your thoughts on how Congress should address K-12 education. I encourage you to share the areas that you believe need improvement or fostering in our education system. I will share your comments with members of the House Education and Labor Committee. Please visit my education Web site at http://hoekstra.house.gov/edcomments/.

As Congress moves forward toward reauthorization, I remain committed to promoting state and local flexibility as well as parental involvement in education.

CLICK HERE to review a letter that I recently sent to Education Secretary Arne Duncan on my current concerns with the bill’s reauthorization.

Pete's Perspective
MORE VIDEO
AUDIO CLIPS
NEWS CENTER
FOLLOW PETE
ISSUES
CONTACT PETE

Soccer!

Our girls named their team the "Pink Panthers" - these girls are a blast and they love soccer. (Halle is bottom right.) Many thanks to Coach Cederquist for allowing me to help this season. The Pink Panthers will be doing the halftime show at the varsity girls home soccer game on 4/29/10 vs. Hart.

A Tribute to Shelby Teachers and Staff

I had a very heartwarming experience last week that reinforced the tremendous job our teachers and staff members are doing at Shelby Public Schools. Read my tribute at this link:

http://walbornforschoolboard.blogspot.com/p/tribute-to-shelby-teachers-and-staff.html

Oceana Herald Journal Questionnaire Answers

The Oceana Herald Journal has requested certain information from school board candidates. My answers to their questions are found at the following link:

http://walbornforschoolboard.blogspot.com/p/oceana-herald-journal-questionnaire.html

Shebly Cheer Team Competes at Delta Plex

The Shelby Competitive Cheer Team is amazing! Thanks to my daughter Abby (center group, bottom left), we get to enjoy this amazing sport and benefit from the camaraderie with a really cool group of parents. They finished the 2010 season ranked 12th in the state (coaches poll), and 2 Shelby girls from the team received Academic All State First Team Honors. Go Shelby Cheer!

Constant Kindness

"Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate." ~Albert Schweitzer

Walborn Family Hosts Frontrunner for MI Governor!

In an effort to help Shelby Schools, the Walborn family is hosting a dinner in Oceana County for the leading candidate for Michigan's next Governor - Congressman Pete Hoekstra. The Walborn's feel that the best way to help Shelby Schools is to support candidates with a strong record of supporting education in Michigan. The dinner will take place May 13th and is by invitation only. For more information, contact Warren at WarrenWalborn1@gmail.com.

http://hoekstraforgovernor.com/index.php

Shelby Soccer!

While Karen volunteers with theater productions, I love soccer! I am a licensed soccer coach and have coached girls soccer teams of various ages for over 10 years. The team pictured in this photo was a special year for me since TWO of my daughters were on the team (Alexandra #2, Brittany #6, and me on right). Head coach Frank Zarate led this team to a fantastic season. Go Shelby Soccer!

Shelby Grad on Capitol Hill - Alexandra Now

Our daughter Alexandra worked last semester as an intern on Capitol Hill for our congressman, Pete Hoekstra. (Pete is now the frontrunner in the polls to become the next Governor of Michigan!) Alexandra is now back at college preparing for study abroad in Europe next semester.

Shelby Daughter Now In College

Here is the little Britt at a college football game with her roomie.

Shelby HS Show Choir Performs at the Frauenthal!

This is the Shelby High School Show Choir preparing for their performance of "Thriller" at the Muskegon Frauenthal Theatre. They represented Shelby very well last week in this performance at "Showcase". My daughter, Abby, is third from the right.

Halloween at Benona Elem

My youngest daughter, Halle, attends Benona Elementary. Here she is with friends at their school Halloween party. Halle is on the right as the Cat in the Hat. Next to her are Katrina Smith, Natalie Fox, and Ashley F.

Hablo Espanol! (I am Fluent in Spanish)

A mis amigos que hablan Espanol, puedo decir que nos entendemos. Yo vivia en Bolivia para dos anos mientras que estudiaba en la universidad. Yo estaba sirviendo una mision para mi iglesia. Aunque son mas que 25 anos desde que yo vivia alli, todavia mantengo mi amor para la gente hispana. He visitado Mexico y Honduras muchas veces y me encanta visitar alli cuando puedo. La cosa que me gusta mas es el futbol!

Daughter in School Play

This is my daughter, Abby, in the recent high school play, "A Seussified Romeo and Juliet". Abby is second from the left.

Purple and White Day

This is my daughter, Nancy, dressing up for Spirit Week this year at the Shelby Middle School.

Shelby School Video

This is an excellent video about Shelby Public Schools. I appear in the video in the first 15 seconds as a proud parent expressing my great satisfaction with our schools. I also appear a little after halfway through the video speaking about how SHS helped prepare my daughter for college.

Shortly after that is my favorite scene - Soccer! In the "sports" section of the video, a scene shows Ashley Hoekenga taking a corner kick for a spectacular header goal. Ashley is also seen in the first 5 seconds of the video doing an amazing flip throw-in, a rare skill for a high school player. Go Shelby Soccer!

Click on the following link:

http://hs.shelby.k12.mi.us/dvd/SPS_DVD.mpg

Remembering 911

Having worked on Wall Street and fearing I had friends in the rubble of the World Trade Towers, I was able to go volunteer in the search effort the next day (9/12/01). This is a link to the news story:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs_SnrGpJIA

My Company

Hawken Energy is a manufacturing company that I started in 2004 in the Shelby Industrial Park. We employ from 7 to 50 employees throughout the year depending upon seasonal demand, and some of our employees are SHS graduates. We manufacture and distribute outdoor wood furnaces and and supplies to customers in 22 states. We are very proud of our team, our Shelby heritage, and the products we produce.

Here is a link to our website:

http://www.HawkenEnergy.com

Daughter Singing on SHS Stage

This is a link to a video of my daughter, Alexandra, in her last vocal performance on the stage of Shelby High School. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pwaEyO91DA

Shelby Graduation

This is me with Alexandra when she graduated from Shelby in 2007.

Daughter in School Play

Here is a photo of Karen and I with our daughter, Brittany, who played the role of Peter Pan in a Shelby school production. Karen (the artist of the family) did Brittany's costume, hair and make-up!

Professional Background

Warren W. Walborn
A seasoned business leader, Mr. Walborn’s career includes a blend of experience in Wall Street M&A, energy corporation, and venture capital venues. Mr. Walborn has an outstanding record of creating value while maintaining a strict bottom-line orientation. Currently, he is President and CEO of Hawken Energy, Inc., a start-up company focused on the innovative use of renewable fuels to provide low cost energy solutions for its customers. Prior to launching this company, Mr. Walborn was Managing Director of Pentwater Group, LLC, a boutique advisory firm dedicated to supporting companies through early stages of development and growth.

During 2002, Mr. Walborn served as the CEO and board member of a client company, AirMatrix Technologies, Inc., a medical device company focused on sleep disorder diagnosis. Mr. Walborn successfully navigated this company from its inception through a negotiated sale to a publicly traded medical device company. Through Mr. Walborn’s efforts, bridge loan investors in AirMatrix received a 20 percent cash on cash IRR during the worst year in recorded history for such investments.

In a prior assignment, Mr. Walborn was a Venture Partner for EnerTech Capital, the preeminent venture capital firm in the energy and communications industries with $285 million under management. In this assignment, Mr. Walborn assisted EnerTech with investment sourcing, analysis and negotiations, and coordinated a merger for a portfolio company.

In his prior position, Mr. Walborn was head of venture investments in new energy technology companies at American Electric Power, one of the largest utilities in the United States. In this capacity, Mr. Walborn also directed investment management of AEP’s portfolio of such companies. Mr. Walborn served on the board of PHPK Technologies, a company focused on superconductivity products which has doubled revenues every two years since becoming a portfolio company under Mr. Walborn’s direction. Further, he was a member of the AEP Corporate Technology Council, and Patent Review Committee. Mr. Walborn is the inventor of US Patent No. 6,522,031, “A Power Load Leveling System and Packet Electrical Energy Storage” and other patent pending devices.

Mr. Walborn joined AEP from the U.S. Generating Company where he directed project finance and M&A activities. In the five years Mr. Walborn was with the company, USGen was transformed from a small developer into the largest domestic independent power producer with over 10,000 megawatts of capacity under management. Prior to that position, he worked at Goldman, Sachs & Co. as a consultant. Mr. Walborn started his career with GE Capital in their leveraged buyout group.

Mr. Walborn earned an MBA with Honors in Finance from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business where he was a LEAD Fellow and a May Scholar. He is also a graduate of Brigham Young University, where he received his bachelor's degree in economics. Prior to his university studies, Mr. Walborn attended Hawken School, a nationally-recognized college preparatory school located near Cleveland, Ohio.

Mr. Walborn lives in Shelby, Michigan.