Palisades Charter High School senior Taylor Beljon-Regen says only two days after the January firestorm burned her campus, destroying thousands of homes and up-ending her and her classmates’ lives, she approached the school’s administration with an important question.
Is prom still on?
“So many of my classmates were so, so, so worried about it,” she says. As senior class president, Beljon-Regen heads up the prom planning.
“Something I got really upset with at that time was people would text me and – I’d be figuring out with my mom if our house is still up – and the texts I’d be getting from people who didn’t even live in the Palisades was, ‘Oh, is prom still on?’” she says. “Sometimes it just felt very insensitive.”
Beljon-Regen’s house survived but, like many of her classmates, she hasn’t been able to move back in. Others lost their homes, displacing hundreds of students and their families. Most of a senior class that had grown up together in the Palisades were now scattered all over LA.
With Pali High’s campus out of commission, seniors – who graduated middle school online because of the pandemic – were forced onto Zoom classes once again. After three months, Pali High moved its classes back in-person at a renovated Sears department store. However, many seniors changed schools or opted to stay virtual.
Read: Palisades High students adjust to new campus at old Sears
Beljon-Regen says all this chaos and disconnection from each other has made high school rituals like prom all the more significant to her classmates.
“I feel like there’s a lot of anger from everything we’ve lost,” she says. “Everyone just wants to get in those final senior events because we missed out on so many days of normal school.”
When just a week was left before the dance, the pressure of throwing a party for students who have lost so much weighed heavily on her.
“Maybe I’m just a pessimist,” she says. “I’m anticipating everyone being like, ‘Oh that prom sucked.’ People also just complain about literally every single thing. Every year there’s complaints about the food, the music, the venue. I think at some point, it’s like, how many people can I please?”
However, Beljon-Regen says there is one benefit to planning the whole thing.
“I will not lie, I themed the entire prom around blue, just so it would match my dress,” she says. “And I'm shameless about that because I did so much work.”
Taylor Beljon-Regen was not the only Palisades prom attendee to wear blue. Photo courtesy of Taylor Beljon-Regen.
The day before prom, a handful of seniors meet in-person for the last time before the dance to finalize plans during their ASB class.
Cabinet member Cate Deiter, who takes virtual classes, says prom will be one of the rare times her class will be together since the fires.
“Everyone in our grade kind of misses each other in a way that, like no one's really here at the same time,” she says. “So, it's gonna be good for us all to be together in the same place.”
ASB Vice President Maximilian Bedolla says prom represents a culmination of all their hard work.
“Everyone gets to celebrate the past four years that they've put into high school, especially after sticking through the tragedies that have occurred,” he says. “I think everything is only pushing us closer together, and prom is an amazing way to exemplify that.”
Beljon-Regen is still worried no one will like the food. However, she’s becoming more hopeful after they sold more prom tickets than expected.
“Everyone is just excited and I think our class hasn’t had that in a really long time,” she says.
And then, on a Saturday in May, Pali High’s prom is finally here.
Students in bright dresses and tuxes enter the Wallis Annenberg Building in Exposition Park on a blue carpet (of course). The theme is “City of Stars.” Hundreds of string lights hang over a bubbling fountain and decorated tables inside the massive venue. Students line up to hear their fortunes told by a tarot card reader or get sketched by a character artist. The DJ pumps up the dance floor with tunes from Taylor Swift, Chappell Roan, and Kendrick Lamar.
Pali High students dance the night away under string lights at the Wallis Annenberg Building. Photo courtesy of Taylor Beljon-Regen.
ASB cabinet member Zoya Kassam says she’s glad everything came together.
“It feels surreal to see everyone together,” she says. “It’s clicking that it’s our end [of high school] and we’re just having the most fun we can.”
Beljon-Regen is still making rounds halfway through the dance, but she says she’s happy.
“All my pessimism was for nothing,” she exclaims. “It’s actually turned out incredibly well. The food is actually good this year – total win for me. The music is good. Everyone’s dancing and everyone’s so happy to be here.”
She just has one more job to do before her night is over – announce prom king and queen.
Senior class president Taylor Beljon-Regen announces the 2025 prom king and queen atop a metal balcony. Photo by Alexandra Applegate.
“One one hand, I’m feeling like high school is actually ending, this is so sad,” she says. “And on another, it’s like this is a night I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”
With prom over, Beljon-Regen is looking toward graduation and beyond. She’s hoping her home in the Pacific Palisades will be cleaned in time for her to move back in before she heads off to college in the fall. This August, she starts her freshman year at Harvard University.