Pali’s integration into SM
For additional information about Pali’s transition into the Sears building, read the sister article HERE
Palisades Charter High School is nowback to in-person learning after being online for over two months. With their new transition into the Santa Monica based Sears building, they have been utilizing Samo space for sports and other activities.
Captain of the Pali swim team, Noa Levertov expressed her gratitude for the pool space provided for the swim team to continue their practices.
“Samo has definitely been helping with the swim team, getting us pool space which is really great,” Levertov said.
In addition to using Samo’s pool and field, Pali has joined forces with the color guard. After the fires struck, the color guard teams at Pali and Samo collaborated and became one team for the rest of their season. They competed and practiced together, getting to incorporate many more design aspects to their shows due to the higher volume of teammates.
Sydney Chan (’28), a member of the Samo color guard, reflected on her experience merging teams with Pali.
“It’s been great, when our season started - which was the beginning of second semester - we heard about two or three weeks into the semester about what happened to Pali and the immediate team response was, ‘what can we do to help?’ So we invited them over to practice with us and borrow our equipment,” Chan said, “Our show was definitely a lot cooler design wise, just having more people. It was really fun to learn how they did their warm ups and compare and try new things out and just making new friends.”
ICON Independent Winter Guard/Contributor
The combined Pali High and Samohi color guard in uniform.
Some Pali students, however, - such as Celia Elisha (’27) - believe Samo could still be doing more in terms of sharing space.
“I am on the softball team, and SM has not partially helped us play or practice. I think that Samo has welcomed Pali somewhat, however, I would like them to let us use their fields for sports,” Elisha said.
Pali students were given free Metro cards and have been encouraged to take public transport to school, as the Metro stop is right next to the Sears building. Santa Monica has also given Pali students access to parking spaces and lots.
Pali ASB Treasurer, Nathan Hall (’26), expressed his gratitude for the warm welcome from the City of Santa Monica and Samo as well.
“Personally I have been extremely happy with the City of Santa Monica...The City of Santa Monica has been reaching out to me and [Pali ASB Vice President] Owen [Fisher (’26)] through the whole process ever since we released our first video. They’ve had us come in for news conferences and even sent us a script for a separate video regarding transportation to our schools new campus and just wanted to have us talk over it so Pali Kids had a familiar voice to listen to,” Hall said. “I still distinctly remember when the fires broke out a bunch of different high school ASB Instagram accounts were posting stories wishing us well and tagging our Insta account. Samo was one of the first and when I reposted it on our official account I remember all the DMs I got of people who genuinely cared alot about such a simple action.”
Additionally, the SMPD maintained a presence at the Sears building on the first few days of classes, attempting to help everything go as smoothly as possible. However, the Downtown Santa Monica area still feels unsafe for some. A few students still feel that the City of Santa Monica could still do more to ease the transition for the Pali community, Lauren Ades (’27) is one of them.
“More could have been done by Santa Monica in terms of safety, I’m hybrid so I’m walking around close to the school a lot,” Ades said. “There have been a few instances that it felt very unsafe. We were promised plenty of security and police presence, but I have seen barely any. It would be nice if it felt safer walking to school.”
Samo principal, Marae Cruce, explained how - while the transition has been hard - there were still some positives for the move.
“I am impressed how both school communities have listened to and followed guidance on drop-off/pick-up locations. By following these directions, everyone has helped to have a smooth opening,” Cruce said.
Jack Kridel (’26) felt that the Samo community has done a great job of making everyone feel welcome.
“I think as a whole community we feel very welcomed and excited to be in the Santa Monica area. It’s a privilege to have this space and even if it is different that doesn’t mean it’s bad,” Kridel said. “My experience has been overall positive and I think Pali as a whole has received a great amount of support.”
As of now, Pali students and staff are still unsure of when they will return to their home campus. For the time being, Pali will continue to further ingrain itself into the greater Santa Monica community with their temporary space at Sears.