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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
All content by photo by Morgan Weir
Millard West’s newspaper, the Catalyst, was submitted at the end of the 2020-2021 school year for Pacemakers. The Catalyst, along with the MWHS Wildcat News, won a Pacemaker under the hard work and leadership of editors. “In my two years, I moved from staff reporter to editor in chief,” former Millard West Catalyst editor-in-chief Emma Baker said. “I had zero design experience at the beginning of that second year and had to learn as I went. Being in that leadership position, I learned how important it is to be adaptive and communicative.”

[Photo] Setting the pace

Morgan Weir, Editor-in-Chief
December 10, 2021
The main hall of the Durham Museum, usually filled with visitors, is empty over a year into the pandemic.

[Photo] Museums matter

Morgan Weir, Opinions Editor
April 16, 2021
A Google search for “giving away money to homeless people” provides over nine million results. The top results are YouTube videos with hundreds of thousands or even millions of views, all of which use charity as clickbait to get views and money.

[Photo] Charity for clout

Morgan Weir, Opinions Editor
March 25, 2021
Remote students follow along with a physics lesson through Zoom. Teachers now have to divide their attention between in-person and remote students. “Remote has been a good option for some students with extenuating circumstances,” assistant principal Casey Lundgren said. “I'm glad we have been able to have it as an option this year. With that being said, this has added a tremendous burden to our teachers, who already have a very difficult job.”

[Photo] The trials and tribulations of learning from home

Morgan Weir, Opinions Editor
February 22, 2021
A disclaimer about racial stereotypes plays before Disney’s “Dumbo.” The disclaimer lasts for 12 seconds and can not be skipped. It also plays before movies like “The Aristocats” and “Peter Pan.”

[Photo] Disney’s racist legacy

Morgan Weir, Opinions Editor
January 14, 2021
The tag "weight loss journey" on TikTok has almost 3 billion views. The "weight loss" tag has over 13 billion views, and "what I eat in a day" has 4 billion views. Some tags, such as "pro-anorexia," which promotes eating disorders, have been blocked on the app.

[Photo] TikTok’s fatphobia problem

Morgan Weir, Opinions Editor
November 20, 2020
According to an analysis by the New York Times, CNN’s privacy policy has a Lexile score of over 1600, meaning that it would be a difficult read even for those in professional fields like law and medicine. Hulu, Airbnb, Zoom and Disney have similarly difficult policies with Lexile scores of over 1500.

[Photo] Teens need to care about data privacy

Morgan Weir, Opinions Editor
November 6, 2020
The US Census Bureau found that over 350 languages are spoken in the US. English, Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog and Vietnamese are some of the most common. Even within these languages, there are different dialects and varieties, making the US incredibly linguistically diverse.

[Photo] Stop policing people’s grammar

Morgan Weir, Opinions Editor
September 4, 2020
The alumni display hangs next to room 203. Social Studies teacher Tim Royers intends to cover the entire wall by the end of the year. “I’ll keep expanding as much as I can,” Royers said. “I figure the more examples the better.”

[Photo] Wall of fame

Morgan Weir, Staff Reporter
December 20, 2019
Daylio, Stoic, Stop, Breathe, and Think, Clear Fear, Cove, Sanvello, Quirk and Youper were among the top mental health apps of 2019. They range from journaling, mood tracking, AI chatbots and more.

[Photo] The top mental health apps of 2019

Morgan Weir, Staff Reporter
November 26, 2019
A student browses for e-books on the Sora by Overdrive app. The school started working with the Overdrive company last year and has been trying to let people know about it. “We have it on the announcements, we have signs around, we’re tweeting about it and just trying to do what we can to get the word out,” said librarian Mindy Longe.

[Photo] Going Digital

Morgan Weir, Staff Reporter
November 1, 2019
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