By Devyn Hamilton, SMDP Intern
Still dealing with the stressors brought on by the Palisades Fire, teenagers at Samohi are both looking back on the traumatic events, and becoming more involved in the community through fundraising and activism.
The wildfires that devastated Los Angeles are under control now, but many students who spoke to the Daily Press described the experience as anxiety-inducing and uncomfortably uncertain.
“I evacuated two times and felt the most paranoid I’ve ever been,” said sophomore Allison Kirkpatrick.
Several were put under mandatory evacuation and spent nights in unfamiliar spaces like hotels or AirBnBs. Some even said it was reminiscent of COVID-19 lockdowns.
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), it is more common for youth to feel even more stress and to exhibit trauma responses after events like the fire.
This was illustrated by many students who had to be away from their belongings, not knowing whether they were still there. On Jan. 7, the first day of the fires, sophomore Alex Chaiet was unable to return home at any point to collect things from her room.
“At the end of third period I saw 15 texts from our close friends saying we needed to evacuate. A minute later, I was on FaceTime with my dad and he was asking what I wanted from my room,” she said.
Alex, like many other students, is in the school production “Chicago,” and since the PCH was closed off, stayed after school for hours at rehearsal. She tried to return home before school ended, but could not.
“I actually left at lunch with my family friend Sawyer who is a senior, she lives a mile from me. We couldn’t go back because all the roads were closed. We were on Main Street and just seeing the huge cloud of smoke was surreal. We were watching the news and the reporter said it would spread all the way down to the beach… and then at 3:30, I went back to school and showed up for ‘Chicago’ rehearsals because I had nowhere else to go.”
Although these original uncertainties are gone, the stress still lingers, and many who were put in that situation feel a need to help others who lost their homes and items. One of the responses to the disaster was a desire to donate to families in need, as well as to have enhanced awareness of climate change.
Student-run clubs like Baking for Change and ASB facilitated bake sales and toy drives, respectively, to donate to families in need. These students have converted their new stresses and worries into activism, fighting for the things they care about.
Climate change has been a concern for years pertaining to natural disasters. According to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the impact of climate on disasters has already outpaced predictions and groups like the World Wildlife Fund are calling for more action from lawmakers.
“We are standing in the midst of a climate emergency, not a distant threat, not a future crisis,” said Kayman Mangan at a Samohi student-led protest of the Donald Trump administration’s actions on Feb. 6. “I watched the places I’ve explored, restaurants I’ve eaten at, and the houses of people I care about burn down. The window to prevent irreversible damage to our planet is closing.”
