When the fires spread throughout the Pacific Palisades, Mira Costa High School opened its doors to approximately 150 affected students. While the smoke has cleared and Palisades Charter Charter High School has reopened, only roughly 60% of transfer students have chosen to remain at Mira Costa.
For many, the initial transition to Costa was a necessary and temporary solution to an unpredictable crisis. However, for some, Mira Costa’s welcoming environment and numerous opportunities have turned their transfer into a long term commitment. As students and their families settled into their new surroundings, some began to discover unexpected advantages.
“In the beginning, my family and I moved here to get back a sense of normalcy,” says Junior Jack Fair, “but after we moved into a nice house and my siblings and I started at Costa, we realized that we wanted to continue our lives here.”
Although Costa welcomed and accommodated the Palisades students, adjusting to a new community and navigating a new school so suddenly was not seamless, and brought its own set of challenges. Some Costa and Pali classes differ extremely from one another, in things like curriculum and teaching style. For anyone, diverging from normal routines and familiar environment and friendships can be particularly hard.
“I missed my friends back at Pali, and it took some time adjusting to the different academic expectations and new surroundings,” Says Junior Izzy Tobin, “but the students and staff at Costa helped make the transition easier, welcoming all of us Pali students with grace and
compassion.”
In January, Mira Costa teachers and coaches made the gracious decision to let any transfer students join the sports team or elective level that they were already a part of at Pali, so they didn’t have to completely start over, and could continue doing what they love. This choice immediately gave many transfer students a sense of belonging, and played a large role in their decision to continue attending Mira Costa.
“Costa’s volleyball team is amazing and I am honored to be a part of it,” says sophomore Hutch Larson, “They are a much more competitive and advanced team than Pali’s volleyball team; being on the team was a big factor in why I decided to stay at Costa.”
In addition to extracurriculars and academics, many students have found that Mira Costa’s supportive community has made a significant impact in their experience and their decisions. Costa’s dedicated staff, including counselors, teachers and coaches, have committed themselves to integrating Pali students into their classrooms. Counselors helped create almost identical schedules to their Pali ones, down to the period. This sense of normalcy, after such trauma , gave Pali students support and has encouraged many of them to continue attending Costa.
“I was nervous about switching schools midway through the year, but Costa’s teachers and staff went above and beyond to help me both in and outside of academics.” Said Mazz Larson.
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