Dear Reader,

In all our lives, I’m sure, we’ve experienced Catalysts, though we may not think of them as such. Perhaps we were too young to remember some. Others are stitched into our souls. In literature, a Catalyst is often described as a life-changing event, the moment that sets the story into motion.

The Catalyst in a movie or book is always clear. When Luke leaves Tatooine or when Frodo is called to bring the ring to Rivendell. Thus begins the hero’s journey or our protagonist’s coming-of-age story. But what does Catalyst mean in your own life? A move across the country, the beginning of a new school, a blossoming friendship. Our lives don’t unfold like a book or play out like a movie—there is never a promised resolution, and action-packed drama is rare. Rather, our lives are made from moments, both big and small. Those moments are the Catalysts that define and shape us.

For this current issue, we invited our authors to explore the idea of life-altering moments—changes so small that their large effect goes unnoticed. To look into their own lives or fictional stories and explore what Catalyst means for them. For you, reader, I hope that reading these stories prompts you to ponder your own life and the many catalysts along the way that made you who you are.

Enjoy the stories,

Jade Hernandez ’25 and Maryn Davis 27’

Co-Editor-in-Chiefs