David Clark’s life sure has changed.  Just about four years ago he was a high school drop-out, making boxes for beer at the Coors brewery in Golden, pulling in about $10 an hour.

“It was really manual labor, it was hard work, and I felt I wasn’t reaching my potential,” Clark said.

So he enrolled at Red Rocks Community College, excelled in his courses, and got into Colorado School of Mines. And he graduated earlier this month as a petroleum engineer, walking right into a job that will pay him more than $100,000 a year.

“Right out of school you could be making six figures,” said Jean Manning Clark, director of the Mines Career Center. She says students at the school in Golden are getting up to ten job offers each… and they’re pouring in 6 to 8 months before the students even graduate.

It seems people are flocking to the energy industry because in Colorado and around the world, that’s where the jobs are.

Small businesses in Colorado are getting a $17 million boost through two new capital access programs announced by Gov. John Hickenlooper, the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT), and Colorado Housing and Finance Authority (CHFA).

DENVER — Despite the chill in the air Friday night, it’s quite heated at auditions for the 2013 Colorado Firefighter Calendar in Denver.

This is the calendar’s first major event since a financial scandal last fall forced the former organizer to step down.

The screams firefighters hear are usually for help–not this–ladies screaming and squealing with delight.

And usually firefighters battle smoke and flames–not each other.

“Whether I make it or whether I don’t, just being asked to do it is a great honor,” says Eric Pingel from Buckley AFB Fire Department.

These professional firefighters compete for one of 14 coveted spots in the 2013 Colorado Firefighter Calendar.

“Firefighters are all about helping people. If we can use our role as firefighters to promote fire safety and help Children’s Hospital, I think any of us would take advantage of the opportunity,” says Matt Zavala with Boulder Fire Department.