They didn't expect to win.  

When eight students from Centennial High School waltzed into the Junior Achievement Stock Market Challenge, wearing flannels shirts and caps turned backwards in stark contrast to the suits of their competitors — kids from 60 high schools across Colorado, who'd been studying finance and preparing all semester for the competition — they didn't know what to expect.  

Local community leaders in Marathon County, Wisconsin, were stumped.

They had recently attended an event designed to share information about the long-term effects of early childhood on the success of communities. They learned that investing in early childhood education delivers a 13 percent return on investment, and that early interventions can have lasting benefits through adulthood.

But what to do about it?

Providing a rich language environment for a child who is deaf or hard of hearing and has recently begun to use hearing aids or a cochlear implant is crucial.

That’s why Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech, a listening and spoken language program for children who are deaf or hard of hearing, has recently incorporated LENA technology as a “standard of care” for all children enrolled in their early intervention program.

On a dark, rainy night in the mountains of Colorado — the kind that knocks out cell phone service and turns trails to mud — a lone figure bumped over roots and bushes, carving a new path through the underbrush.

Suddenly, a cliff. 

Is it worth it?

The question hangs in the air at Peasants’ Plot farm, over high tunnels destroyed by the weather with plastic blowing in the wind and a trailer painted warm green and blue inside.

On a gloomy, rainy day in Gunnison, Colorado, a group from the Los Angeles Veteran’s Association walked through the mist towards a small plane waiting to take them home after a long week of skiing and snowboarding at the Adaptive Sports Center.