The week's good news: June 1, 2023

1. First-generation high school graduate engineers his own success

Growing up in Yuma, Arizona, Rodrigo Guizar Jr. crossed the southern border almost every weekend to visit his grandparents. He could see the infrastructure in their village was very different, and it sparked his interest in becoming a civil engineer. His parents did not finish high school, and Guizar was determined to study engineering. He joined the College Knowing & Going program led by Education Forward Arizona, and learned how to complete college and scholarship applications, all while taking dual-enrollment classes. On May 26, he graduated from high school, and in the fall will attend Columbia University. He plans on specializing in hydrology so he can create reliable and sustainable water infrastructure in the Mexican village where his mother was raised and try to tackle water shortages plaguing Arizona.

KAWC

2. New material made of old clothes offers sustainable textile solution

It takes 713 gallons of water to make one cotton shirt, and globally, the production of textile fibers and apparel creates 110 million metric tons of waste every year. A new material called Circulose is a sustainable solution. At the Renewcell plant in Sundsvall, Sweden, old clothes are dissolved and processed into a substance that "looks like white cardboard, feels like watercolor paper, and — most importantly — can be spun into yarns for textile manufacturers," The Christian Science Monitor wrote. Renewcell is the world's first industrial-scale textile recycling plant, and several brands, including Levi Strauss and Zara, are using Circulose. "From an environmental perspective, it means that every year, instead of huge swaths of forest being cut down, millions of old jeans and T-shirts are being used rather than them degrading into methane in landfill," Nicole Rycroft, director of environmental nonprofit Canopy, told the Monitor.

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The Christian Science Monitor

3. Community comes together to ensure cafe can continue to serve free breakfasts

The Homemade Cafe's mission is written on its front door: "Everybody Eats." When Collin Doran bought the Berkeley, California, eatery in 2011, he decided that anyone who came in and couldn't afford food would receive a free breakfast. Thousands of people have taken him up on his offer, and after helping so many for so long, it was Doran who needed some assistance last fall; he had used his entire savings to pay employees during the pandemic, and was struggling. His customers used GoFundMe to raise more than $30,000 for the restaurant, ensuring The Homemade Cafe could continue serving free meals. Doran told The Washington Post he believes "society is only as good as its poorest person. To me, food is love. I feel good when I go home at night, knowing that I helped provide a meal to somebody who needed one. Everyone deserves to eat."

The Washington Post

4. Grandmother and grandson visit every US national park

When Brad Ryan learned his 93-year-old grandmother, Joy Ryan, had never seen mountains, the ocean or a desert, he knew that had to change. He took her on a trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 2015, and couldn't stop thinking about her seeing the Grand Canyon and Old Faithful. They decided to visit all 63 U.S. National Parks, and reached their final stop in May: the National Park of American Samoa, 6,700 miles away from their homes in Ohio. Joy and Brad were greeted by rangers who gave them certificates marking the end of their national park journey. The rangers also shared with them that in this "beautiful tropical paradise," there is an "island community that is very firmly rooted in family," Brad told CBS News. "And I think that there's a bit of a poetic beauty to ending it there as well."

CBS News

5. Service dog receives his own diploma at graduation

For four years, Justin went to every class Grace Mariani attended at Seton Hall University in New Jersey — and when she received her diploma in May, he got one as well. Justin is a 6-year-old service dog, and as soon as Seton Hall President Joseph Nyre handed him his rolled-up diploma during the graduation ceremony, Justin put it in his mouth, to the delight of the crowd. Seton Hall said Mariani graduated magna cum laude with her bachelor's degree in education, and hopes to become an elementary school teacher.

NJ.com