Natalie Riley is a third-year UCSB student majoring in English. The Catalyst is a creative writing and visual art class, as well as one of UCSB’s few literary arts magazines. The course is offered every quarter to any UCSB students who wish to join the editorial team led by an Editor-in-Chief, a a Managing Editor, Literature Editor, and an Assistant Editor. As Literature Editor, Riley promotes The Catalyst through social media, specifically Instagram, and accept outside submissions.

Anthropology major Manniah Harrison reflects on her childhood love of dance—a passion she rediscovered through a UCSB Dance Department intermediate class. Dance, writes Harrison, unites mind, body and spirit and is a worthwhile elective for students of any major.

At 41, Jose Alejandro Mendoza represents a growing wave of non-traditional college students navigating higher education after decades in the workforce. His journey—marked by resilience, mental health battles, and creative achievements—challenges traditional timelines and redefines what it means to belong on a college campus.

UC Santa Barbara undergraduate student Bryan Perez attended Las Maestras Center’s ‘Literary Skulls’ event, where the history of Dia De Los Muertos and its traditions were discussed through poetry and verse. In this personal reflection, they explore how the event allowed them to feel more in touch with their own identity.

With a passion to protect the environment, Jian Hong Shi interned at the Environmental Defense Center, the only public-interest environmental law group from Los Angeles to San Francisco and a partner organization of the Sara Miller McCune Endowed Internship and Public Service Program housed within the Walter H. Capps Center. “In addition to writing updates for our monthly emails, I wrote an item in our biannual printed edition,” she said. “It was about our recent achievement securing a 100-foot buffer between the new Heritage Ridge development project and the Los Carneros Creek, which will protect sensitive wildlife habitat.“

ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence chatbot, has shaken the academic world for better and for worse. On the UC Santa Barbara campus, undergraduate student Scarlett Adams offers a glimpse of how students and professors have approached the AI tool in different ways — from banning it, introducing it, or guiding students on how to use it, as since this technology is here to stay.

During the pandemic, Stephanie Kraus left the Dance Department to pursue Sociology. After being confined to dancing in her isolated Isla Vista apartment, she began to feel unmotivated and doubtful of her decision to pursue dance. Although Kraus enjoyed her new classes, she missed being able to express herself without words, with only movement. The Kinetic Lab, the closing performance of the year for the dance department, gave Kraus the opportunity to reconnect with her passion for dance.

Fast fashion is a major contributor to climate change, to research taught in a class called “Climate Crisis 101,” taught by UC Santa Barbara English professor Ken Hiltner.

Olivia Candelaria is one of many UCSB students taking matters into their own hands by thrifting second-hand clothing instead of giving into fast fashion trends. Hiltner’s “Climate Crisis 101” course provides students with concrete, information about the current state of the climate crisis and what can be done to mitigate it, Calendaria writes.

Ryan Greenberg’s beautiful ode to his aunt Leith Harmon discusses the optics behind cryptocurrency, family bonding during a pandemic, and shifting careers.

Determined to include the arts in the future of STEM, third year UC Santa Barbara biology student Emily Nguyen incorporated technology and science with artistic expression in UCSB’s Art , Science and Technology course. She used her creativity in a project ,The Dexcavator, and in another which has taught her how to collect data from local beaches and apply it to the science behind ocean acidification.

Shortly before the American theatrical release of Lebanese writer and director Oualid Mouaness’ film “1982,” he sat down with UC Santa Barbara chair of Global Studies Paul Amar to discuss the film and his country. Mouaness said he hopes his portrayal of the 1982 Lebanese War will humanize battle for audiences unfamiliar with the realities of fighting. It did that for UCSB student Colleen Coveney, who describes her reaction in this article.

Makenna Gaeta found her voice at UCSB’s WORD Magazine, breaking through her anxieties and finding her passion for journalism through the challenging process of writing her very first published work.

In a recent Interdisciplinary Humanities Center event, writer Elizabeth Kolbert introduced her new book, Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future, which explores the relationship between technology and climate change. She said that humans must use technology to create sustainable solutions in order to save our dying planet.

Emily Hu is a third-year UC Santa Barbara student double minoring in Chinese and Religious Studies. Soon after arriving at UC Santa Barbara in 2018, Hu got a better understanding of her own family’s culture and history. She says that growing up in a predominantly Hispanic community never gave her the chance to fully cherish her Chinese heritage. After taking several UCSB courses, Hu has developed a strong connection to her Chinese identity.

A Student Spotlight on Molly McAnany, a fourth-year double major in political science and english. McAnany shares her passion for music, classic literature, and educating others. She is able to combine all of these passions in her radio show on KCSB, “Shamrocked,“ where she airs Irish music and poetry.

Second year psychological and brain sciences major Eddie Lo delves into an engaging experimental course called “Memory: an Interdisciplinary Exploration.“

Saige Heitman delves into the benefits of studying both the sciences and the humanities through the lens of an innovative course taught by neuroscience professor Kenneth Kosik, and English professor Sowon Park, called “Literature and the Human Mind.“ This interdisciplinary course stresses the importance of both subjects, and how they can complement each other.

While social media can turn the COVID-19 pandemic into a creativity contest, UCSB English major Sarah Danielzadeh learned from Shakespeare’s “King Lear” that it’s normal to feel unmotivated during this period of chaos.

English major Natalie Gomez reminisces about Isla Vista’s pre COVID-19 film culture by spotlighting Magic Lantern Films, a film screening program sponsored by UCSB’s Interdisciplinary Humanities Center.

UC Santa Barbara sociology major Olivia Roberts reflects on her discovery of the Linguistics Department and how the culture of language applies to her experience as an out-of-state college student.

Originally a literary arts magazine club, The Catalyst magazine now offers a four-unit course at UCSB, providing creative collaboration as a means to fulfill the unit requirement.  UC Santa Barbara undergraduate student Renee Whalen delves into how mixing poetry and art in this course changed her relationship with writing.

UCSB art student Peytie Slater has a passion for fashion and positive self-expression, which she expresses through wearing her unique outfits on campus. She shares her story behind creating her fashion brand, True Violette.

Greg Silver, a student in the Writing Program, shares a deeply personal journey about how he came to love writing.

Fourth-year English major and writing minor William Kang reflects on his writing experience at UCSB, including his position as a tutor at Campus Learning Assistance Services.

Writng student Beth Guluk Isensee offers a behind-the-scenes look at the Philosophy Department’s Ethics Bowl team, in which her roommate Natalie McCosker personifies the team’s motivation and dedication and they train for regional and national competitions.

Theater major Anabel Costa describes how after a lifetime of dance she lost her passion and then found it again after taking a break. Costa is enrolled once again in dance courses at UC Santa Barbara and shares here experience with other creatives in this personal essay.

Fourth-year Communication student Madison Terry discusses how a Magazine Writing course in UC Santa Barbara’s Writing Program shifted her outlook on the written word and inspired her interest in pursuing professional writing.

Inspired by fellow student and artist Erika Kodama and her work in Little Tokyo at its Changing Tides exhibit, Quan Nguyen writes to express the impact that art, joining the Nikkei Student Union, and sharing the Asian American experience have had on his life.