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The Student News Site of Millard West High School

The Catalyst
The Student News Site of Millard West High School

The Catalyst
The Student News Site of Millard West High School

The Catalyst
Kaden Roth

Kaden Roth, Catalyst Online Editor-in-Chief

Entering his senior year at Millard West, Kaden is in his third year producing content for The CATalyst and MWHS Wildcat News. His interest in discovering new stories and finding unique ways to share them is what brought him to Journalism. Kaden enjoys sharing his viewpoints through opinion stories and creating broadcasts that showcase the distinctive culture at Millard West. Outside of school, you can find him reading, hanging out with friends or working.

All content by Kaden Roth
Juniors like Alexander Kuhn and Mikayla Gdanov are choosing to graduate early to pursue their academic careers. Kuhn and Gdanov both have a desire to help others and plan on doing so after graduating from high school. “I chose to graduate early because I wanted to get a jump start on college and my career pathway,” Gdanov said. “I also knew I could with my AP and honors classes that I have taken.”

Jump starting service

Kaden Roth, Catalyst Online Editor-in-Chief
May 17, 2022

MWHS Wildcat News 05.13.22

Kaitlin Reynolds and Kaden Roth
May 13, 2022

The final bow

Kaitlin Reynolds and Kaden Roth
May 5, 2022
Students participate in Mock Job Interviews in the library to complete their oral communications class. The interviews are led by volunteers from the community who shape the interview to mimic that of a real interview.“Speech interviews are a remarkable tool for students to get experience in interviewing for employment, scholarships, internships, etc,” volunteer Susan Hancock said. “It also helps students to complete applications and resumes, another life skill.”

A taste of the real world

Kaden Roth, Catalyst Online Editor-in-Chief
April 29, 2022

MWHS Wildcat News 04.22.22

Kaden Roth and Kaitlin Reynolds
April 22, 2022

One last song

Brenna Batchelder and Kaden Roth
April 20, 2022

Meet the 2022 Prom candidates

Annabelle Harshbarger and Kaden Roth
April 20, 2022
Seniors Kaitlyn Neid and Bethany Folk sing a rendition of “Wonder” from ‘High School Musical: The Musical: The Series’. The event allowed students to showcase their unique talents and abilities. “I think the Best of West gave students the chance to see talents from kids all around the school,” senior and contestant Kaitlyn Neid said. “Since Millard West is such a big school, kids don’t often get to see kids outside of their activities. So it was fun to see people outside of things that I’m involved with and see what they could do.”

Showcasing the best at West

Kaden Roth, Catalyst Online Editor-in-Chief
April 14, 2022

Cruising into retirement

Annabelle Harshbarger and Kaden Roth
March 31, 2022

MWHS Wildcat News 03.18.22

Kaitlin Reynolds and Kaden Roth
March 18, 2022

Music to the ears

Kaden Roth and Brenna Batchelder
March 17, 2022
Education academy students work in class to prepare for the end of the semester. First and second-year students in the academy work in the ACP classroom to develop their lesson plan design and execution. “Both the first and second years do this internship but it looks different for each. Every week on Tuesday for nine weeks, you visit the ACP classroom during the academy. When you’re a first-year, you get paired with one buddy. You eventually write and perform a lesson plan working on something they may need help in. As a second-year, you alternate between the three ACP classes. You work with all the students instead of just one.”

Learning through experience

Kaden Roth, Online Editor-in-Chief
March 15, 2022
The library put up their blind date with a book display for the month of February. The table presented a creative opportunity to get more of the Millard West community engaged with reading.“It was very interesting that the first few days of the display being up, we had groups of students gather at the table all together,” teacher librarian Mindy Jorgensen said. “It was really nice to see numerous students interested at the same time, all talking about the books and giving each other advice on which one to pick. It also cleared out our table on the first afternoon. I think we had 14 books go out after school the first day we put out the display. All the students who stopped at the table seemed interested and very willing to give one of the books a try, even though it was sight unseen, with only a few details to go by to make their choice.”

Blind date with a book

Kaden Roth, Catalyst Online Editor-in-Chief
March 8, 2022

Bringing Hammered to the stage

Annabelle Harshbarger and Kaden Roth
March 3, 2022
Health science academy is getting its nursing assistant certification following the completion of the class within the academy. As CNAs, some are working with patients in assisted living homes which allows them to apply what they’ve learned in class and gain valuable experience. “Health Science Academy has prepared me for the CNA class as well as my EMT class,” senior Paige Armstong said. “There have been a few situations that EMT better prepared me for like when people go unresponsive.”

Certifying New Abilities

Kaden Roth, Online Editor-in-Chief
February 28, 2022

MWHS Wildcat News 02.25.22

Kaitlin Reynolds and Kaden Roth
February 25, 2022

Women in leadership

Annabelle Harshbarger and Kaden Roth
February 9, 2022

Masking PSA

Kaden Roth and Brenna Batchelder
February 3, 2022

MWHS Wildcat News 02.04.22

Kaitlin Reynolds and Kaden Roth
February 3, 2022
West in the Groove performs on Jan. 16 at their premiere event. This was an opportunity for members like senior Ally Dunne to show friends and family what performances they’ll be competing with this coming season. “A lot of people really like our song ‘Juice’ by Lizzo,” Dunne said. “We sang that with some fun mirror choreography and soloist parts which got a good reaction out of the audience.”

Premiering at last

Kaden Roth, Catalyst Online Editor-in-Chief
January 25, 2022

New Year’s Resoltions

Annabelle Harshbarger and Kaden Roth
January 15, 2022

MWHS Wildcat News 01.14.22

Kaitlin Reynolds and Kaden Roth
January 13, 2022

Tying generations together

Kaitlin Reynolds and Kaden Roth
December 20, 2021

A winter symphony

Kaden Roth and Brooke Sliva
December 17, 2021
Spending her second block practicing conducting a piece of music for the Philharmonic Orchestra, senior Sophia Ollis has taken on a new role. Ollis was given the opportunity to pick a piece of music for the group to perform during their winter concert. “The biggest challenge that I’ve faced throughout the time I’ve spent working on this piece was figuring out which gestures to use while conducting,” senior Sophia Ollis said. “Since the most important part of conducting is conveying the emotion of that particular piece, I had to consider everything from the movements I make with my hands to the facial expressions I use in order to emote what the piece is supposed to say.”

Saying cello to a new role

Kaden Roth, Catalyst Online Editor-in-Chief
December 9, 2021

MWHS Wildcat News 12.03.21

Kaden Roth and Kaitlin Reynolds
December 3, 2021

Empowering through music

Kaden Roth and Annabelle Harshbarger
December 2, 2021
The Millard West Spanish Honors Society (SHS) helps run a Spanish club for third graders at Willowdale Elementary. Young students are introduced to the language and culture by participating in a number of activities. “The SHS students run the different stations and teach the third graders the lesson,” Spanish Honors Society sponsor Alexander Jameson said. “We have four stations and the kids rotate around every eight to 10 minutes. We always have a culture station and then three Spanish language stations.”

Planting the seeds of cultural appreciation

Kaden Roth, Online Editor-in-Chief
December 2, 2021

MWHS Wildcat News 11.12.21

Miguel Paredes Reyes and Kaden Roth
November 12, 2021

Fairytale theatrics

Kaden Roth and Annabelle Harshbarger
November 11, 2021
Senior Jonathan Jimenez spends his time interning in the Millard West Information Technology (IT) department. The time Jimenez has put into his internship has not only allowed him to gain employment experience but also develop working relationships with his mentors. “Johnny has many qualities that make him a helpful member of the tech. office team,” technology assistant Linda Deegan said. “He is always pleasant to work with and is also an efficient and hard working intern. He is very responsible and a self-starter.”

The intern behind the screen

Kaden Roth, Online Editor-in-Chief
November 4, 2021
Daniel Craig takes his final bow as the infamous British spy in “No Time to Die”. The film was postponed due to COVID-19 and made its debut with a theater-only screening.

007 out of 10

Kaden Roth, Catalyst Online Editor-in-Chief
November 2, 2021

Cycling onto a new path

Kaden Roth and Brooke Sliva
October 29, 2021
Preparing drinks during their morning rush, senior Kendal Lentz spends her mornings before class working at Scooters. Her time at Scooters has come with many memorable moments which she’s able to laugh about with her coworkers. “The most rewarding part is all the friends I got out of working there,” Lentz said. “All of us, especially the high schoolers, are close and we share lots of fun memories and inside jokes together.”

Connecting through coffee

Kaden Roth, Catalyst Online Editor-in-Chief
October 6, 2021
The new mural at Buell Stadium was created by artist Waite White with the idea to convey the values of Millard. White worked with students, staff and faculty to create the artwork and took two years to complete the project, “When I work with a community of people to do a public project I talk to a lot of people, and there is never any understanding of who is going to say something that I need to hear or something that will affect what comes out in the end,” White said. “It's a lot of asking questions and listening hard for the answers, knowing that all of them are personal to the person who is speaking.”

Commemorating the youth

Kaden Roth, Catalyst Online Editor-in-Chief
October 1, 2021

MWHS Wildcat News 09.24.21

Evan Vaslow and Kaden Roth
September 24, 2021

Heroes of the heart

Brenna Batchelder and Kaden Roth
September 23, 2021

Meet the 2021-22 HOCO Candidates

Kaden Roth and Annabelle Harshbarger
September 21, 2021

Coffee for a cause

Kaden Roth and Brenna Batchelder
September 10, 2021
AP Capstone is a two-year program that consists of AP Seminar and AP Research. The classes focus on researching current issues and providing a logical solution which students present through a written report and oral defense. “When it comes to applying for colleges, AP Capstone students will signify their participation in the program by clicking a box on their Common App,” AP Capstone coordinator and AP Research teacher Kara Radtke said. “For comparison purposes, it is the same box students in the IB program get to click on their applications.”

Exploring AP Capstone

Kaden Roth, Catalyst Online Editor-in-Chief
September 3, 2021

New year, new staff

Kaden Roth, Annabelle Harshbarger, Sadie Smith, Brielle Wilson, and Avery Looney
August 25, 2021
Students sign the Resolution of Respect poster as a way to affirm their belief in the ideas promoted by the ADL and No Place for Hate campaign. The No Place for Hate is a student driven campaign that highlights the importance of making sure schools have an equitable and collaborative climate.

A pledge for respect

Kaden Roth, Staff Reporter
May 19, 2021

Senior Sign-Off

Miguel Paredes Reyes, Logan Moseley, Kaden Roth, and Brenna Batchelder
May 18, 2021
Some seniors are jumping at the opportunity to get a head before going to college by enrolling in general education classes at Metro Community College. Senior Golden Kelly is enrolled in psychology and has been able to apply what she's learned to some of her high school classes. “I started taking classes at Metro because I really wanted to get some of my general credits that I would take as a freshman in college out of the way,” said Kelly. “Taking classes at Metro is just so much cheaper so I saw it as an opportunity to get ahead and save money at the same time.”

Kickstarting their futures

Kaden Roth, Staff Reporter
May 6, 2021

Choir showcase

Kaden Roth and Brooke Sliva
May 6, 2021
Police brutality has been a popular topic over the past year. With more and more stories coming out about the violence minority groups face from the police, people have taken a stand against the system. Minority groups are effected at a disproportional rate which has been more widely publicized following the murder of George Floyd.

Holding everyone accountable

Kaden Roth, Staff Reporter
April 23, 2021

Meet the 2021 Prom Candidates

Kaden Roth and Annabelle Harshbarger
April 15, 2021
Eliza Donley’s Creative Design class presented original product prototypes to a panel of judges. The competition was largely based on the popular TV show, “Shark Tank.” “I really wanted to promote my department and give the class some spark, so other students would want to take it,” Donley said. “In the past, students would just present to the teacher. I thought it would be more fun to have it be like the TV show and get some other people in the school involved.”

Competing in dangerous waters

Kaden Roth, Staff Reporter
April 2, 2021
World language classes are offered to students in high school to improve upon skills that can greatly impact their futures. However, it's the schools’ responsibility to better promote these classes and encourage students to consider just how important they can be. An increase in understanding and empathy for different cultures and regions could greatly benefit future generations.

The language of compassion

Kaden Roth, Staff Reporter
March 26, 2021

West celebrates Women’s History Month

Kaden Roth, Annabelle Harshbarger, and Brooke Sliva
March 18, 2021
Senior Ceibhionn Stevens films a video, encouraging students to complete their FAFSA. Stevens and a handful of theater students help create these advertisements for EducationQuest. “I heard about this opportunity through my drama director, Mrs. Phillips,” Stevens said. “She has approached me and two other seniors because she felt we were dedicated drama students who would be able to contribute how EdQuest needed.”

A quest for experience

Kaden Roth, Staff Reporter
March 11, 2021
Students continue a Millard West tradition of creating poppy fields in the English hallways during French week. Both members of French club and students enrolled in French class take control of planning and creating activities. “I hope that people look forward to it every year,” French teacher and club sponsor Sarah Karst said. “We see it as an opportunity for the appreciation of the language and simply a celebration of the beauty of the language and the many cultures that accompany it.”

A week in France

Kaden Roth, Staff Reporter
March 5, 2021

Black History month celebrated at West

Kaden Roth and Annabelle Harshbarger
February 25, 2021
The idolization of politicians and use of social media to more effectively connect and interact can be damaging for their constituents. It’s important that we are able to remember who votes to put politicians in office and who keeps them there.

Social media hides social issues

Kaden Roth, Staff Reporter
February 24, 2021

TestNebraska administers free COVID 19 tests for students and faculty

Edison Geiler and Kaden Roth
February 4, 2021

Calc 3 students learn through innovative software

Kaden Roth and Annabelle Harshbarger
January 29, 2021
"I'm Thinking of Ending Things" follows an unnamed woman who goes on a trip to visit her boyfriend Jake's parents’ secluded farm.

An ending worth thinking about

Kaden Roth, Staff Reporter
January 13, 2021

COVID caroling

Kaden Roth and Brenna Batchelder
December 15, 2020

Building a foundation

Annabelle Harshbarger and Kaden Roth
December 9, 2020
Logos are a popular way to introduce the aesthetic and values of a company, brand, or business. However, when the design is harmful or insensitive to a culture it can shut out a large population of people. Being smart with the symbolism used is important to create a welcoming and friendly environment.

Respect over intent

Kaden Roth, Staff Reporter
December 3, 2020

3Cs PSA

Kaden Roth, Brenna Batchelder, and Annabelle Harshbarger
November 19, 2020

Exploring diversity in theatre

Kaden Roth and Brenna Batchelder
November 12, 2020
Starting her internship during the pandemic hasn’t been without challenges that she has had to overcome. The work she does has been adapted from previous years to help keep her and the environmental team safe. “I’m currently working on putting together a training presentation to be presented to the environmental department in January over the past five years of environmental policy change and any misdemeanors from the last five years that our vendors had.”

Interning into the real world

Kaden Roth, Staff Reporter
November 5, 2020

Meet the 2020-21 HOCO Candidates

Annabelle Harshbarger, Kaden Roth, Brenna Batchelder, Madelyn Christiansen, and Bailey Vincent
October 28, 2020
Automatic voter registration allows for a more accessible way to register. The information given to government agencies is used but citizens are still able to opt-out.Voting is an important part of the US and should be treated as such.

The ease of automatic voter registration

Kaden Roth, Staff Reporter
October 13, 2020
While students take required classes to fulfill graduation requirements they miss out on the opportunity to discover and explore subjects they have interest in. By not being able to take classes that pertain more to a student's interests, their futures are being negatively affected.

Class requirements are restricting

Kaden Roth, Staff Reporter
October 7, 2020

Let’s get clay-zy

Dana Summers, Kaden Roth, Olivia Edwards, and Madison Brandis
October 2, 2020
AP Exam fees have changed over the course of the academic year. Millard West is now having students pay for part of the test compared to previous years. “The updated fee is a bit unfortunate,” junior Brenna Batchelder said. ”I can see why the school decided to make the change.”

Advanced fees for Advanced Placement

Kaden Roth, Staff Reporter
September 21, 2020

Students learning remotely

Kaden Roth and Annabelle Harshbarger
September 10, 2020
Following Trump’s executive order to ban TikTok, the app responds by suing the administration. The company was given 90 days before the ban will be implemented.

TikTok takes Trump to court

Kaden Roth, Staff Reporter
September 3, 2020
Due to covid-19 movie theaters are facing unprecedented amounts of change. Streaming services continue to grow and disrupt the traditional film industry.

Entertainment industry catches COVID

Kaden Roth, Staff Reporter
August 27, 2020

Every ballot counts

Kaden Roth, Staff Reporter
December 20, 2019
Juniors Cloey Gray and Jack Defreece can be seen passionately talking in Hunter Amos’s play Martha!. The Advanced Theatre class spent time creating student written plays and performed them in front of an audience.

The future of playwriting

Kaden Roth, Staff Reporter
December 13, 2019
Balanced school calendars, also referred to as year round school, have been proven to benefit both students and teachers. The infographic above showcases three main effects year round schooling has on students.

A better school calendar

Kaden Roth, Staff Reporter
December 6, 2019
The student Council brought together the gifts for the families they are helping out.

Toys for a cause

Kaden Roth, Staff Reporter
November 26, 2019

Unified in Speech

Annabelle Harshbarger and Kaden Roth
November 14, 2019
Pulsera means bracelet in Spanish and they come in fun colorful bands. There are many different designs and patterns that you can purchase. Each bracelet comes with a tag including the artist’s picture and bio. The money is sent back to the local artists and students allowing them the chance to put the money to good use.

Bands of Hope

Kaden Roth, Staff Reporter
November 8, 2019

German Exchange program returns for a second year

Annabelle Harshbarger and Kaden Roth
November 1, 2019
On average, each one of us produces 4.4 pounds of solid waste each day. This adds up to almost a ton of trash per person, per year. If we cut this down even by half it would make a tremendous difference in the amount of paper waste made by schools. Cutting back on paper starts with smart decision making and taking responsibility for the environment.

Paper problem

Kaden Roth, Staff Reporter
October 11, 2019
Doctors working countless hours to save and improve the lives of their patients are getting paid less than someone who hits a ball and runs around bases. Athletes are being paid way to much money based on what they do and nobody seems upset by it. Although doctors are still making a large sum of money they deserve to be making more than an athlete based on what they do for people.

Rich Getting Richer

Kaden Roth, Staff Reporter
October 7, 2019

Getting the job done

Annabelle Harshbarger and Kaden Roth
September 26, 2019

2019-2020 Homecoming Royalty

Emma Baker, Chloe Parker, Annabelle Harshbarger, Kaden Roth, Jenna Reynolds, and Annalise Smalley
September 18, 2019
Smiling through the brutal heat sophomore Riley Hurts stops to take a picture with her friends Lilli Rooks and Mali Rose. The three girls spent their summer helping rebuild homes in Guatemala. “It was a really fun way to spend a part of my summer,” Hurts said. “I want to go back or at least do something similar in the future.”

A helping hand

Kaden Roth, Staff Reporter
September 9, 2019
Flying past the competitors to take the lead sophomore Emily Gilbert races to the finish line in hopes of placing first. After making it through a 750-meter swim Gilbert hops on her bike and takes the lead in her final race of the summer in Iowa. ”You have to be really careful and pay close attention to where you’re going,” Gilbert said, “If you wipe out it could also affect the people behind you and seriously injure them.”

In it for the long run

Kaden Roth, Staff Reporter
September 4, 2019

New 2019-2020 Millard West Staff

Alexis Bahensky, Jordan Bakar, Connor Robb, Kaden Roth, and Morgan Weir
August 27, 2019
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