A LETTER FROM THE directors:

Dear Readers,

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” This quote from former president Barack Obama embodies what we here at the Catalyst have set out to do. We are living in an age of unprecedented change. With the advent of mass media and the Internet, we now have access to a veritable treasure trove of information. Everywhere we look, we see another conflict, another human rights crisis, another controversy. Climate change. Increasing wealth inequality. Horrifying acts of racism. A raging pandemic. Now, more than ever, it seems that the world is in need of a new generation of leaders and activists to create change.

Yet youth involvement in politics has been steadily decreasing. Discriminatory voting laws, unequal civics education opportunities, and polarizing rhetoric in the media have all led to a sense of apathy. And that apathy makes it impossible to effectively change the status quo.

We are the generation that will grow up in a world that doesn’t feel safe anymore, in a world that feels too small, in a world rattled by the return of populism and war and disease and recession and rising seas. We are the generation that will then grow up to face an unsteady job market, staggering inequality, the rise of authoritarian regimes, of white supremacy, and climate change. We deserve a better future. But in order to create that better future, we have to first understand the problem.

We started the Catalyst to do just that. By bringing information to students in an approachable manner, we hope to make these issues more accessible to everyone. By creating a platform where students can write about issues they care about and read the thoughts of their peers, we hope to create a space for open discourse and dialogue. And by encouraging student involvement in politics and civics on a local, state, and national level, we hope to make their voices heard on important policy decisions.

We are not offering the cure-all solutions to the problems you will read about on this site and elsewhere. We are not planning to have all the answers. Change comes slowly. We are here to do our part, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant. We are here to begin the process of reversing that decreasing trend of student involvement. We are here to listen, and to speak up. We are here, and we are not going away.

There is another quote, from James Baldwin: “Our crown has already been bought and paid for. All we have to do is wear it.” By doing our part, we honor those who came before us and the sacrifices they made so that we could have the voice to speak up, and we continue their good work.

We are the change that we seek. Change does not start with the politicians in Washington, D.C. It does not start with the investors on Wall Street. It does not start with a CEO in Silicon Valley. It starts, quite simply, when ordinary people decide to speak up.

Jessica Chang, founder and Class of ‘21

2019, last modified 2021