Wrapping Up My Palisades High School Senior Year at a Reconfigured Sears

Arik Kraft, Dani Traum, and Avery Waxman-Lee meet in the second floor common space of the Sears building.

When my home and parts of my school burned down in January, I had no idea what the remainder of my senior year would look like.

Coming out of Winter break, my classmates and I were plunged into online learning – isolated from our friends and communities while we struggled to adapt to our new reality.

Zoom school came with a vague promise of eventual relocation, and a blind hope that we would be able to return to school in person at some point before graduation, but we were skeptical. We didn’t think our school would have the time or resources to successfully relocate us, especially as the demands of post-fire remediation weighed heavily on them and the whole community.

But, our administration pulled through, and by April 22, we were back in person in the newly-renovated, former Sears building. In just three short months, an abandoned department store was transformed into a school capable of receiving over 2,000 students.

My classmates and I were able to reunite in a relatively familiar environment.

The Sears building can be chaotic – especially during transition periods, when hordes of students attempt to use the same few staircases to get in and out of the building. There are no doors in the classrooms, so everyone has to make an effort to be quiet so as to avoid disturbing the classes around them. And, the Wi-Fi is unreliable at best, which can make it difficult to follow through with in-class assignments and lesson plans.

But ultimately, I’ve found that none of those things bother me when I consider the alternative: a semester spent isolated online, far from my friends, teachers, and routine. I’m grateful for the sense of normalcy the building has given me amid so much change, and for the opportunity to connect with my Palisades community, even if it’s outside of our usual home.

The building isn’t all bad – its location makes it easily accessible by public transportation, and its proximity to the Third Street Promenade and the Santa Monica Place mall means that my friends and I can walk to get lunch nearby. My teachers have all made the best of a difficult situation, and are working on decorating their classrooms to create a more positive atmosphere.

We have plenty of donated school supplies and furniture, and are surrounded by a community ready to help us with anything we might need.

Ultimately, our community’s resilience in the face of so much adversity is incredibly inspirational to me, and I'll be forever grateful for the normalcy that has been returned to my senior year. It’s comforting to know that my class is in good hands, and that so many people have dedicated themselves to making sure our transition out of high school is smooth, painless, and full of joy.

By Gigi Appelbaum-Schwartz

Editor’s Note: It has been a blessing to have Gigi work on our paper for the last two years. She is a wonderful writer, a talented and caring young woman who is a pleasure to know. Gigi is definitely going to make a difference in whatever community she becomes a part of as she enters college. We wish her all the best in the years to come. She will be missed.

— Diane Margolin