Tyler Schonsheck is a 22-year-old Wixom resident and Walled Lake Western graduate who will soon be a graduate of the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. Schonscheck just completed his senior season of college football at Air Force as a lineman, in which he earned All-Academic honors from the Mountain West Conference for the 2009 and 2010 seasons. It was this past season that Schonscheck and the Falcons finished 9-4, which included victories over [...]

A graduate of Walled Lake Western High School and a math teacher and track and field coach at Walled Lake Central, Nebjosa Stojkovic, 28, has always believed Walled Lake would be a great place to hold a 5K run. As a student at the University of Michigan, he deeply admired and respected Mott Children’s Hospital. In 2008, he found a way to connect the two together when he founded Passion for Life, a non-profit organization [...]

Dr. Joseph Ales, a Waterford resident and owner of Optik Birmingham, an upscale eyewear store in Birmingham, along with a team of eye doctors and nurses, will be traveling to Kenya next week and expects to see as many as 1,000 patients in three days. Ales, who has been on medical missions to Guatemala in the past, spoke with the Spinal Column Newsweekly the week before his trip overseas. (Click to listen) SCN: What is [...]

Don Burgin, 75, has lived in the lakes area since June of 1943 and as such has seen how the community has grown over the past 65-plus years. He is able to remember a simpler time when everybody knew each other’s name and when you didn’t have to lock your doors. His barbershop, which has been family-owned since 1959, is a reflection of that time. His customers have become his friends, and they all gather [...]

Milford resident Will Young is a veteran actor who will now take on his most challenging role to date — portraying the late Hall of Fame broadcaster and Detroit Tigers icon, Ernie Harwell. Young will star in “Ernie,” a play written by Mitch Albom about the life of the legendary announcer, at the City Theatre in Detroit beginning on Friday, April 22 and running until June 26. It is a landmark moment for the veteran [...]

CEO of a company that specializes in life-size wall graphics of your favorite athlete? Check. Part-owner of an NBA team? Check. What more could a sports-loving guy want except possibly to be that player on the wall? Pat McInnis, the CEO of Fathead and part-owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, admits it’s the next best thing to actually being a professional athlete. Yet, he takes nothing for granted. He continues to maintain a fierce work ethic [...]

Al Low, 62, is a lifelong Michigan resident who has boxing in his blood. He has spent over 30 years as a boxing promoter and manager, and now has given the sport a new home in Waterford with his new effort, the Waterford Fight Club. The facility opened on Feb. 27, 2010 at 1585 Crescent Lake Road and has become a place where people of all ages and backgrounds — from amateur to professional, from [...]

Greg Cleveland has taught vocal music at Walled Lake Western for the past 21 years and has recently been named the 2011 Michigan School Vocal Music Association’s (MSVMA) State Honors Choir Director. Previously, he has been chosen as the MSVMA Teacher of the Year in 2001 and State Honors Choir Director in 2007-08. Throughout his time at Western, Cleveland has had many successes with his choirs, traveling with them all over the country and the [...]

Waterford Township native and singer/songwriter Todd Alsup is emerging as an exciting artist whose style blends pop with soul, Motown, and rock, for a passionate and soothing sound that’s honest and relevant. As an independent artist, he is marketing himself through Kickstarter to fund a music video for his lead single, “The Only Thing” by offering various incentives to donors. Alsup has been featured in Billboard Magazine, Performing Songwriter, and is endorsed by Yamaha. His [...]

For 37 years, City Clerk Janet Green has been the go-to person in Orchard Lake due to her historical knowledge and hands-on approach. As city clerk, she helps bridge the gap between local government and the community but takes little credit for the city’s achievements over the years. Green took some time to reflect on her tenure with the city and what she anticipates for the future as she prepares to retire on June 30. [...]