Several students have reportedly been avoiding local, national and international news for the past four months.

“I’ve stopped paying attention to news,” said Early College senior Joseph Chang. “The news media is shifting to click-bait.”

This sentiment was echoed by many students who were asked to comment on positive news stories over the summer, citing a struggle to find reports of positive events. As a respite from the deluge of negative news, Guilford students were asked to share notable positive news stories from the last few months.

In national and international news, the United States and Caribbean have been experiencing extreme effects following Hurricanes Irma and Harvey. In response to the widespread damage, relief efforts are underway to assist people in the affected areas. The positive actions of the volunteers have made national news.

Kinsley Prendergast, junior, is involved with the Red Cross organization that has sent volunteers to the gulf coast. She commented on the ongoing relief efforts and their resulting positive effect.

“For a lot of us, we feel like it’s the right thing to do,” said Pendergast. ”Whoever can help whoever, that’s what’s important.”

Her favorite piece of news in relation to the relief efforts was the local hurricane shelters that were available in North Carolina. The Herald Sun in Durham reported that a temporary shelter was opened in downtown Greensboro to help house those displaced by Hurricane Irma because hotels had become full.

Guilford’s positive news hasn’t always been connected to negative things, however.

The world of technological innovation has recently yielded developments in space travel, according to Chang. Something that garnered his attention this summer was Tesla’s new proposed design for space suits and space travel modules.

Tesla is a company focused on developing efficient and environmentally friendly vehicles and has designed what it claims is a working and tested model, according to Business Insider. The suite is a project of the company SpaceX, started by Tesla founder Elon Musk. It seems to be an effort at revolutionizing space travel and how the public sees it.

“He’s reaching out to our generation,” said Chang. “People view it as modernizing space suits.”

Another positive news story is one within the local Greensboro and Guilford community. Every Campus a Refuge is an initiative founded by Associate Professor of English Diya Abdo. It aims to sponsor and support refugee families here at Guilford and inspire other college campuses to do the same. The project has been getting attention throughout the summer.

“People should really consider that immigrants are trying to get their citizenship, but it’s a process,” said first-year Ariel Morley.

ECAR is trying to make sure that happens and are one step closer to it. Their efforts have recently been acknowledged and honored by the Washington Center’s Higher Education Civic Engagement award.

These stories are just small examples of the positive news Guilford students look back to in these final days of summer.