Whiz Kid: Seaholm Senior Wins Michigan Municipal League Essay Contest

Every week, Patch spotlights young people in the Birmingham community who are successful, talented and just plain awesome. We're pleased to introduce this week's Whiz Kid:

Aaron Walden

• Age: 17
• School:
• Achievement: Walden is a winner in an essay contest sponsored by the Michigan Municipal League's Capital Conference, a contest open to all Michigan students interested in public service and government. Walden was honored at the April 6 conference in Lansing.
• Key to awesomeness: For his essay, Walden wrote about how public transportation can help make 21st-century communities better, more vibrant places to live. He should know a few things about urban planning; Walden just wrapped up a year as the student representative for Birmingham's Planning Board. "Being on this board provided me an extraordinarily experience, a better understanding of how the planning and government procedures work and great links to the citizens and leaders in my community," he said.
  
  Walden said he hasn't decided on which college he'll attend, though he's considering Albion College's Gerald R. Ford Institute for Public Policy and Leadership and Michigan State University's James Madison College. He also plans to go to law school.

Do you know a special student in the community who deserves a round of applause because he or she volunteers instead of playing video games after school? Or maybe your daughter's science club is trying to challenge the way we think about the energy crisis? Or maybe your son's lacrosse team won its first game in three years? Everyone deserves a little attention, and we want to tell these stories.

So email your Whiz Kid nominations to Editor Laura Houser at laura.houser@patch.com, fill out the information given above and include a photo with names and ages. Then, come back every Tuesday for our Whiz Kid spotlight; you never know who will be up next.