A few weeks ago, my seven-year-old son Henry did something unusual. For a kid whose attention is typically focused on basketball—playing it, watching it, talking about it—he insisted that our entire family gather around the television to watch the coverage of the splashdown of NASA’s Artemis II. As we tuned in, Henry followed along intently, treating it with the same focus he would in a live game. In a house that, like most, is often pulled in different directions, everything paused. We...

This was my son Jack’s third year competing in the Berkshire Robotics Challenge. At 12 years old, he has now spent several months each year building, programming, testing, and refining a robot with his teammates, all leading up to a single day of competition. He had never made the playoff round, and this year, he very much wanted to. This year, he found himself in the role of the “veteran.” His teammates were younger and were new to the competition. He took the responsibility seriously....

Last week, Sharp Sterile Manufacturing opened its doors to a room full of local and regional community leaders. It wasn’t a ribbon cutting. It wasn’t a press event. It was a conversation. Company leaders walked us through their facility in Lee, explained the precision behind sterile fill-finish manufacturing, and — most notably — asked for input. They wanted feedback. They wanted to understand how they could better engage local suppliers, restaurants, service firms, and educators. They talked...