This week is all about finding the good where you can at GW and in D.C. Student volunteers rounded up a record number of donations through the University’s Green Move-Out Program, Metrorail’s 7000-series cars returned to the tracks and the fiercely competitive election that ultimately delivered Mayor Muriel Bowser’s third D.C.’s Democratic primary victory foreshadows a new – and better – direction for D.C.

But two trends, the University’s ongoing but increasingly dwindling response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the persistent epidemic of gun violence, continue to cast a shadow over this summer.

Here’s the best and worst of this week’s headlines:

Thumbs Up:

Remember those brown boxes in the lobby of your residence hall in May? As part of GW’s Green Move-Out program, students donated more than 53,000 pounds of clothing, household items and food that they’d otherwise have thrown out to local charities like Habitat for Humanity of Metro Maryland and Bread for the City. Kudos to the student volunteers who spent 472 hours, or nearly 20 straight days, sorting out foodstuffs, clothing, organizers and other items for reuse and donation – it couldn’t have been an easy job. But how much stuff did students toss in the trash during move-out relative to what they donated? Either way, the important thing is that this year’s Green Move-Out kept otherwise usable items out of landfills, saved waste disposal fees and labor costs for the University and, most of all, helped local charities supply people with the items they need.

Turning to the District, eight 7000-series trains returned to Metro’s network last week nearly half a year after the transit agency pulled them from service due to a derailment in December 2021. Removing the 7000-series cars from operations severely reduced the size of Metro’s fleet, pushing up wait times between trains into the double digits. Their return to the tracks should make service more frequent and trains less crowded as workers come back to the office and tourist season heats up. While I’m glad to see the 7000-series running, it’s just about the bare minimum – Metro’s new general manager, Randy Clark, still has a lot to deal with if Washingtonians hope to have a public transit system that works.

Speaking of Washingtonians’ hopes, D.C. voters turned out to vote in the city’s primary elections Tuesday. And while I’m disappointed that Bowser will be the Democratic nominee for mayor and likely win her third term in November, weaker turnout on her behalf is an encouraging sign that Washingtonians want real change, even if they think Bowser is still the best candidate to guide the city for now. Bowser’s support waned this cycle – she only won about 50 percent of the vote as of Thursday night, compared to 76 percent of votes in 2018. Bowser may have won this battle, but progressive candidates and their supporters have a good chance of winning the war in the future if Bowser continues to fail her constituents.

Thumbs Down:

The University announced routine asymptomatic COVID-19 testing will become optional for students, staff and faculty beginning July 1 in an email Tuesday. Weekly tests have diminished during summer classes, but that doesn’t mean the University should have limited its ability to monitor community spread, especially as we look to a full return to campus this fall. While the positivity rate of 2.76 percent between June 14 and June 22 may be a notable drop from the nearly 5 percent rate at GW in May, it’s still above the 2 percent threshold officials used when reinstating the University’s mask mandate in April. That mask mandate is still in place, but will this policy lead to another embarrassing flip-flop? The University has used case positivity to guide its decisions – reducing the scope of or muddying that data now would be a mistake.

And while Riley discussed gun violence in D.C. last week, I’m sad to report that since then, a 15-year-old boy was killed and three adults were shot last Sunday night at the Moechella street festival at the corner of 14th and U streets NW. The day before, a shooting occurred between two groups at a Tysons Corner, Virginia shopping mall, though no one was injured. As Congress comes closer to finally acting on gun violence, I want to once again underscore that our leaders should pay attention to these shootings as much as they do mass tragedies – every victim of gun violence deserves a voice.

Ethan Benn, a rising junior majoring in journalism and communication, is the opinions editor.