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Once again, the White House is honoring a Minnesota difference maker and once again it’s closing the ceremony to the media. Too bad. There are some good stories behind some of these people, although the White House press corps tends to ignore them in order to ask big questions about the big stories inside the Beltway.

These are little stories about real life in flyover country, however.

On Thursday, President Obama will honor Jeff Tollefson, the executive director of Genesys Works in the Twin Cities, which helps students in poverty break into the corporate world. He was a venture capitalist until he left the profitable world for good to start the organization.

Last month, 200 young people who graduated from an 8-week program to teach life skills were “drafted” by 44 companies who are interested in giving them a break.

Next Tuesday, the latest graduating class will be honored and several will tell the stories of their journeys.