Enable breadcrumbs token at /includes/pageheader.html.twig

AFCEA International and LA Chapter Aid High School Damaged by California Wildfires

Donations of $20K total will fund STEM programs for the students.

The AFCEA Educational Foundation and AFCEA’s Los Angeles Chapter donate $20,000 to Palisades Charter High School as it rebuilds after the Palisades Fire.

The AFCEA Educational Foundation and AFCEA’s Los Angeles Chapter each donated $10,000 to Palisades Charter High School in support of rebuilding the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) facilities that were destroyed by the California wildfires in January.

“Students travel to Palisades Charter High School from more than 100-plus ZIP codes across Los Angeles,” said AFCEA International President and CEO Lt. Gen. Susan S. Lawrence, USA (Ret.). “With so much loss of in-person access to their campus, friends, teachers and extracurricular activities, it was our duty to support the chapter’s efforts to aid in restoring some sense of normalcy to this community of teachers and learners.”

Palisades Charter High School is an independent public charter high school that serves approximately 3,000 students throughout Los Angeles.

According to the school’s executive director and principal, Pam Magee, about 40% of classroom buildings were destroyed by the Palisades Fire, and the entire campus has been impacted by smoke and environmental debris. Specifically, the classrooms that held the school’s robotics programs, makerspace and related materials were completely lost.

The high school launched a fundraising campaign called “Raise Pali” to help cover the cost of rebuilding the campus.

The Palisades Charter High School students started learning virtually on January 21, and 2,400 of them are in the process of temporarily relocating to an office space facility that is being transformed into a learning space. Magee said AFCEA’s grant money will be used to purchase an online STEM program subscription to allow students to continue their STEM education online and science kits that can be used when they return to in-person classes.

“AFCEA Los Angeles is devoted to supporting STEM initiatives in our service area, and the loss of much of the facilities at Pali High energized us to step in and help the school bridge the gap between the devastation and LAUSD’s [Los Angeles Unified School District’s] efforts to clear, do environmental testing and set the stage for rebuilding entirely,” said Michael “Lane” Gilchrist, president of AFCEA’s Los Angeles Chapter.

According to an LAist article, Los Angeles Unified School District will spend $725 million to rebuild Palisades Charter High School and two other schools that were destroyed in the fires.