What’s going on around samo?
Promenade Policy changes aim to revitalize area
Kira Willinger / The Samohi
A closing sign notifies customers that the Nordstrom location has been closed.
On Aug. 26, the 15-year-old Nordstrom location at Santa Monica Place closed down. Part of an ongoing trend of closures around the Downtown Santa Monica area in recent years, the promenade faces high vacancy rates- some reaching upwards of 22 percent in July 2025. The emptiness of the promenade has been caused by multiple components, including the high rent and lingering effects of COVID-19. Due to this, the promenade has lost many visitors. As a result, the promenade has been passing policies in an attempt to revitalize the area, part of the city’s larger goal to guide the promenade back to its past state.
This summer, the promenade launched its new ‘Entertainment Zone’, running from Wilshire Boulevard to Broadway. The new ‘zone’ allows citizens to drink alcoholic drinks openly outside from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m, with the implementation being approved by the City Council in effort to support economic development and bring new experiences to the iconic Third Street Promenade shopping district. However, some in Downtown Santa Monica have expressed their concerns about the maintenance of the promenade increasing due to a rise in littering and the need for more security. Shahar Naiberg (’28) amplified questions about safety following the policy.
“I think it could potentially turn dangerous because people consume alcohol and then they lose all rational thought,” Naiberg said. “There’s kids on the promenade. No one wants to see someone intoxicated in a public place, that’s weird. It makes me uncomfortable. I think it makes other people uncomfortable and it could also be potentially dangerous.”
Additionally, the promenade will be hosting the opening of a long-awaited Raising Cane’s, the popular chicken-tender fast-food chain. Santa Monica had a ban on fast-food chains with more than 150 locations in an effort to promote local smaller businesses; however, that ban was suspended in 2023 as an interim measure, with it being upheld in August of this year. The Raising Canes will be opening where the former Asian grill restaurant, Bibibop, used to be and will also be expanding into the past Yogurtland location.
Samo overhauls attendance policy
As of Sept. 15, Samo renewed its attendance policy and launched new measures in an attempt to increase student attendance. All carryover absences from previous years have been reset, with every student starting this semester from zero. Following this update, the number of unrestored period absences seniors must be below to participate in graduation dropped from 120 to 60. To be able to engage in Samo sports and performances, students are required to keep their unrestored period absences below 18. This also applies to eligibility for an off-campus lunch pass. If a student exceeds this limit, they have one week to make up attendance and documentation must be submitted to their designated House Office for confirmation.
Art by Florence Fraser-Macduff
The ‘Perfect Attendance Raffle’ also comes as a new addition in incentivizing students to attend class. Every student who has been consistently present and on time throughout the month will have their name entered into a raffle, and the winners will receive a prize. While administrators are still in the process of figuring out the exact prizes, it is expected that these prizes will include gift cards and swag/gear from the Vikings’ Inn and/or Margaret’s Place, and a fast pass allowing students to cut to the front of the lunch line. Details of the fast pass are still under consideration. Siena Shickler (’28) stated her opinions on the skip the lunch line pass.
“Every single day, the lunch line is just extremely long and you might not even have time to finish it,” Shickler said. “[The skip the line pass] is even more of an incentive to come to school and I think that’s a really good prize for perfect attendance.”
Tristan Komlos, S House principal, explained why the school started the perfect attendance raffle.
“We have the system that has obligations in place to assign consequences for student behavior,” Komlos said. “But what we don’t have is a system that rewards kids for doing the things that they’re already doing. They’re coming to school every day. They’re coming to class every day and that is the majority of our students on our campus.”
“If it gets a student hustling a little bit more in between classes so that they’re on time, the teacher in the classroom community benefits, and what it takes is getting entered in a raffle, then awesome. Let’s do it,” Komlos said.
new cte pathway classes launched
Launched this fall at Samo are the new Career Technical Education (CTE) pathway classes; the Health and Wellness Academy and the Law and Public Policy Academy. These new classes are an addition to already existing CTE programs, such as the Arts, Media and Entertainment pathway and the Engineering pathway.
CTE classes are programs specifically designed towards students interested in a certain subject, like graphic design, that they are planning to pursue as a career. The main goal of these courses is to learn applicable lessons through hands-on experiences, like fixing up a wound. The focus is not on textbook learning but rather on developing valuable skills that will equip students for their future.
Kira Willinger / The Samohi
The Law and Public Policy Academy classroom in the Exploration building features a courtroom style class layout.
Both Academies are a one-year pathway program, with students taking three back-to-back periods. The class is available for 11th and 12th graders who have more flexibility in their schedules, with the juniors and seniors being separated.
Katrina Reyes, Samohi biology teacher and one of the three teachers for the Health and Wellness Academy, shared her thoughts on the program.
“I think it is a way to get students to be more connected to their teachers, more connected to their classmates. So that’s one of our goals,” Reyes said.
Moreover, Reyes expressed what type of students may like to take the class.
“There are a lot of very academically rigorous classes, but I think we’re really just trying to tap into students who are not necessarily the most engaged in school,” Reyes said. “They’re not necessarily the ones who are signing up for five APs, but they’re looking for ways to connect to school better.”
samo updates sports facilities
Over the summer, Samo overhauled key athletic facilities, including building new basketball courts in the former South Gym location and building new bleachers by the football field.
These new additions are part of a larger campus renovation plan Samo has put into place over the past few years, the Samohi Campus Plan (SCP), which has included the building of the Discovery Building, Gold Gym and Exploration building. The SCP features phases of development, with Samo currently entering phase 4A. Phase 4A is said to replace the business building with a Student Services Building. This building would be multipurposeful, holding a college and career center, student clubs space, a black box theater and a health and wellness center.
Manny Lopez / The Samohi
The new bleachers in full use at the home football game on Oct. 3.
The building of the new bleachers followed the decision to move from rented bleachers to permanent ones, with the bleachers now holding 1900 people.
Colleen Davenport, athletic director, gave further insight into these developments.
“I do think they’re improvements. The outdoor basketball courts are for sure laid out better. So when we either have PE classes out there or athletic teams out there, having them three side by side rather than tandem, you can run practices and supervision much easier,” Davenport said. “The next goal is to get the visiting side to have permanent bleachers, because those are still rentals and they are insufficient for what we would like to have at a home stadium,” Davenport said.
Kayla Takeda (’28), junior varsity member of the girls basketball team, compared the new courts to the old ones.
“The courts are really nice. The baskets are new, the lines are not faded like the other older ones,” Takeda said.
Isabella Cardenas (’27) raised a point about the increased amount of space.
“It looks better, it looks more modern, it looks cleaner. It’s a good space. Being in the sun, more space for the boys to play instead of arguing over which basketball courts they want,” Cardenas said.