Scott Niederjohn

Age: 40
Hometown: Sheboygan, Wis.
Cause: Early financial education

An economics professor at Lakeland College, Niederjohn launched the school's Center for Economic Education as a sideline project to help adults raise a generation of financially literate kids. Since 2006, via everything from one-day seminars to semester-long courses, he's trained hundreds of Wisconsin K-12 teachers to teach financial concepts, showing them how to use specialized curriculums, games, and other tools—for example, a lesson plan he wrote to explain international trade titled "Should LeBron James Mow His Own Lawn?"

Says Niederjohn:

Weighing costs and benefits is a great way to think about life. That's why I got interested in teaching economics to young people."