Community, Resilience, and Renewal

Anniversaries like this do not arrive with a single feeling. They can carry memory, exhaustion, gratitude, and unease all at once. They remind us that recovery is not linear, and that resilience is not something we complete, but something we practice, again and again.

This morning, our faculty and staff began the day with a pause. We gathered not to relive the crisis, but to reflect on what this moment has meant for us as a school, and on the responsibility we share as adults and educators to hold space with care, steadiness, and honesty. We acknowledged that this anniversary may land differently for each person in our community, and that our role is not to rush past that reality, but to meet it with compassion. 

What has become clear, both in the days following the fires and throughout the year since, is not only what we endured, but how we responded. 

Our students do not learn how to live through the hard things from mottos or messages. They learn from what they witness. They learn from how adults stay steady in uncertain moments, how we speak with honesty and transparency without creating fear, how we take action without rushing past care, and how we turn concern into something practical and sustaining. 

That understanding shaped how we chose to hold this anniversary: as a community rooted in presence and connection. 

Students who were directly impacted by the fires led that work through the Pali Club, choosing to center joy as a way forward. During lunch, they invited students, faculty, and staff to gather for cookie decorating, filling the dining room with color, conversation, and laughter. In smiles exchanged and time shared, resilience took on a visible, human form. 

“After a year of grief, it’s very important to bring joy to our community and to have something that brings us together,” shared Pali Club’s co-leader Liza L. ’27. Co-leader Milla B. ’27 explained the intention behind the activity: “We chose cookie decorating because it was something sweet and fun. It is a great way to bring light to things, and a way for everyone to come together, no matter where you are from.”

For the students who formed the Pali Club, the gathering reflected something deeper than a single moment. “We want Pali Club to be a way to continue bringing us together,” shared Milla. “We’ve all moved across different locations since the fires, and even though we may be far, this is a place where we can come together as a community.”

That same spirit guided our community’s response in the immediate aftermath of the fires. Everyone showed up in extraordinary ways, with 165 families coming through campus to donate to our collection center. Loyola High School and American Martyrs School offered support, alongside six organizations and companies that delivered bulk donations. Together, we collected over $10,000 in gift cards and redistributed supplies to more than 20 community organizations and schools, responding thoughtfully as needs emerged. 

That is what community looks like: action grounded in compassion, generosity shaped by attentiveness, and people showing up for one another without being asked. 

As we mark this anniversary, we would like to offer the same prayer shared with our faculty and staff this morning by Assistant Head of School Dawn Regan—one of gratitude for all that has been carried, and patience for all that remains.