Skate Shop Owner, Women of Today and Teacher Honored by City of Burnsville

Last week, the Burnsville City Council honored the efforts Shawn Solem, Sue Borne and Burnsville Women of Today at its annual "Community Builder" awards ceremony.

Burnsville Women of Today was the first honoree of the evening. The women's has pitched in for an array of community events and raised money for charitable causes. Most recently, the ladies sponsored Retro Run 2012, a vintage-flavored 5K.

Borne is a teacher at Metcalf Junior High who started "Project Lead the Way," a program that encourages students to enter into the engineering profession early on. The project has spread from Metcalf and is now district-wide. Because of Borne's effrots, students can take up to five years of engineering courses and even obtain preliminary accreditation from the University of Minnesota.

Solem is owner of Zombie Boardshop, and an ardent supporter of the Burnsville Skate Park, which is in the midst of a major facelift. In Augsut, the council approved a bid of $92,389, but siad that it would pay only $86,000 of the cost. The Burnsville Skate Park Committee promised to put in $6,500 over the next year to make up the shortfall. Solem, who is on the board, has helped rustle up more than $2,000 of that total.