Points of Progress: Solar power use boosts teacher pay, and more

1. United States

In the spring, Midshipman Sydney Barber will become the first Black woman to serve as brigade commander – the highest post for a midshipman – at the U.S. Naval Academy in Maryland. In the nearly five decades that women have been allowed to attend the academy, only 15 others have achieved this rank. One colleague calls the mechanical engineering major and track team member a “catalyst for action, a visionary, a listener, a doer, and a person driven by compassion.”

2. United States3. Costa Rica4. Pakistan5. New ZealandOuter space