ESM Prep is a gangbuster business. The local company has gone from a small one-man show to an international enterprise, with expanding service offerings and a strong support team in the span of only the past five years.

California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson has spent his career advocating for education issues, from his days as a high school science teacher through his time in the Legislature and now as the state’s top education official. We sat down with him recently to discuss a few critical issues facing California’s schools.

Andrew Hargadon, faculty director of the Mike and Renee Child Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at UC Davis, gives his insight into how what it means to be an entrepreneur has changed. For more from Hargadon, check out “It’s Show Time!” in our April issue.

We reached out to some of the rising young professionals featured this month by Comstock’s to find out what one book has made a major difference in their personal or professional journey. Here is what they said:

According to the study “Freelancing in America: 2016,” 53 percent of freelancers have participated in skill-related education or training within the previous six months, which is more than non-freelancers at 39 percent. The study shows that freelancers opt-in to training opportunities to strengthen skills, while non-freelancers are more likely to do it as a job requirement.

When only 10 Girl Scouts nationwide are chosen for the National Young Women of Distinction award, “it’s a big deal” when two of those recipients come from the same regional council. “I don’t know if it’s ever happened before,” says Dr. Linda Farley, CEO of Girl Scouts Heart of Central California.

But it has happened now.

It seems 39 percent of millennials would rather disclose a preexisting sexually transmitted disease to a potential partner than reveal their debt, according to a survey of 2,000 millennials SoFi conducted, using online poller Survey Monkey. In addition, the survey found that serious debt was the second-biggest romantic deal-breaker, after workaholism.

The challenges facing the Sacramento region are not new. Educators and business leaders have spearheaded programs and tapped into grant funding over the years to prepare students for college or a career. But the efforts, they say, have often been disjointed, sometimes overlapped and failed to make a significant impact.

California’s contributions to the California State Teachers’ Retirement System are projected to almost triple in less than a decade and may increase even more due to low investment returns and the cost of benefits enhanced in boom times.

In response to Mayor Darrell Steinberg’s new investment in the arts and creative economy, this is my open letter to Sacramento as a whole. To the creators. The developers. The decision-makers. The people.

In August 2016, the City of Sacramento made the pledge to become a Fab City. Joining 14 cities around the world — including Barcelona, Paris and Shenzhen — Sacramento’s 50-year commitment makes it the first city on the Pacific West Coast to honor the MIT-spearheaded proposal, the Fab City Initiative.

Last year was one for the history books. But as we start the new year, we wanted to take one last look back at some of our best-performing and most-read articles of 2016. Take a look and see if you missed any of our greatest hits — or if something might deserve a second read.

Venture Catalyst is one part of a multipronged effort at the school that its leaders say is helping turn university research into companies that produce world-changing technologies. The school has facilitated a total of 49 startups in the last four fiscal years, up from 18 in the four years prior.

This is no ordinary restaurant. Students enrolled in the college’s Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management program run both the front and back of the house (with guidance from instructors) as part of their course requirements.

Representatives from Warwick University had been scouting a prime spot to establish its graduate school in Roseville, but the search kept coming up empty. The city’s numerous shopping centers didn’t fit the vision of Warwick University. But recently they found their desired location: The former Fire Station No. 1. 

Entrepreneur Stephane Come feels that “fun” products and games currently on the market are short-changing children. That’s because they don’t often show kids that it’s OK to fail. Instead, Come wishes that children would be challenged and taught that getting things wrong is an acceptable part of the process. It isn’t necessary to come to the solution instantly.

When Sacramento declared itself the Farm-to-Fork Capital of America in 2012, it opened a floodgate of introspective conversations across the region. How do we truly lead in agriculture?

In fall 2018, Warwick University will become the first international university to open a new stand-alone college in the U.S. The British university hadn’t planned on this groundbreaking achievement. Rather, they were courted by Placer County and the City of Roseville to bring their program and expertise to the area.

It’s that time of year again: the start of a new school year. As millions of students head back to school, their parents head to local stores and to their computers or phones to purchase for all the necessary supplies.