Feel Good Friday

“The journey was no longer impossible, but that didn’t make it any less audacious. One great waterway, newly freed from the stranglehold of four hulking dams. More than 300 miles, through some of the most intense rapids in the West. And 15 young kayakers, nearly all of them new to the sport.” 15 teens. 300 miles. One mighty ancestral river, running free.

+ “After finding the homeschooling life confining, the teen petitioned her way into a graduate class at Berkeley, where she ended up disproving a 40-year-old conjecture.” At 17, Hannah Cairo Solved a Major Math Mystery. (Go Bears.)

+ This weekend, Jen Pawol will make history by becoming the first woman to umpire a Major League Baseball game.

+ “They knew they were risking their lives, venturing out in the aftermath of a rebel takeover of their city, where U.N. experts were documenting hundreds of beatings, arrests and executions by the rebels, as well as grave crimes committed by fleeing soldiers. But all three had the same objective: to get back on the basketball court.” Congo’s Teens Brave Bombs, Rebels and Abduction to Play Hoops.

+ Helsinki went a full year without a traffic death. How did they do it?

+ Dog Heroically Leads Stranger to 2 Unconscious People in Need of Help. (They’re still looking for the cat that knocked them out.)