Media Press Release Dec-15-11
Madison, WI
Wisconsin Youth Entrepreneurs Network (WYEN) Executive Director Ben Hobbins was honored with a ‘’Jefferson Award’’ from the Washington DC organization today. The Jefferson Awards, sometimes called “The Nobel Peace Prize for Volunteerism’’ was pioneered over 30 years ago by a host of national leaders and philanthropists, and recognizes ‘’dedication and service of leaders and volunteers who transform lives and strengthen communities across the United States’’. ABC WKOW Channel 27’s Elishah Oesch produced the film segment: http://www.wkow.com/story/16319944/jefferson-award-winner-ben-hobbins
‘’Well, the email almost did me in –blood pressure drop and my knees wobbled’’, says Hobbins. “Back at my partners, great teams, the great people of our communities, state and nation.’’
Hobbins leads the statewide K12 initiative, the Wisconsin Youth Entrepreneurs project he founded in 2006. The project is a public-private partnership with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (WI DPI) Division of Academic Excellence (DAE) and University of Wisconsin Extension Division for Entrepreneurship Education and Development. Hobbins is also one of two-members on the WI State Leadership Team for the Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education with WI DPI DAE’s representative.
In 2010, his Wisconsin Youth Entrepreneurs project won one of only four Wisconsin Innovation Champion awards issued by UW Extension. His inventions have won him honors as Wisconsin’s first Popular Science Top 10 Invention award in 2009 and being named one of ‘’Outdoor Life’s 25’’ for 2010 for innovation. Hobbins’ inventions are part of a 2-year exhibit displayed at Wisconsin Historical Society’s “Wisconsin Innovations” alongside Aldo Leopold, Frank Lloyd Wright, the Cray Supercomputer, Gilson inventions, the Evinrude, etc.
The Jefferson Award focused on Hobbins’ work on the American and Wisconsin Youth Entrepreneurs Network project, its vision and future societal impact, its commitment to youth, families, communities, the state and nation. It focused on Hobbins’ founding of the Lake Delton Restoration Project in 2008 and successful conclusion in 2010 and emulation around the country of the “Delton Model” born from the natural disaster area fundraising model he developed. It also focused on his involvement with the American Red Cross Badger Chapter for invention, various functions an committee; the marking of his daughters’ founding the state’s first district-approved ‘’K12 ARC Club model’’ designed for the WYEN project; and marking his and family’s 100-year ‘’tradition of family giving’’, the founding and leading of the Midwest’s first ARC Chapter by great grandmother Mary Hobbins in 1909 -a celebrated story written recently by the American Red Cross in DC.
‘’I dedicate this award to the great people, teams and partners I work with who believe in my projects, ‘’says Hobbins. “And with recognition comes the responsibility to inspire others to do the same. Our youth in these hard times need a place to belong, to participate positively in society and humanitarian causes void of ideological themes; for the very ones our land is born from.’’
Hobbins is an area native and product of nationally and internationally acclaimed universities, including UW Madison, UW Whitewater, Universite’ de Lyon Jean Moulin III, the Sorbonne and the ESSEC in Paris. He is Madison Rotarian, also sits on DC-based Future Fisherman Foundation and FishAmerica Foundations boards and UW-Whitewater’s Alumni Board.
WYEN WWW.WYEN.ORG is a 501c3 and a public-private partnership with UW-Extension, WI DPI and other partners. For more information or information, contact Ben Hobbins at jbhobbins@yahoo.com
© December 14, 2011 WYEN all rights reserved
