Editor’s Note: The reporter of this article is a member of the Student Council Executive Board and assisted with the uniform drive.
Fueled by historic gusts of the Santa Ana winds, Tuesday, Jan. 7, marked the beginning of the highly destructive and devastating Palisades and Eaton fires. These fires — among many others — tore through residential neighborhoods and mountainsides, leaving countless families and communities with no homes or belongings to return to.
Due to Archer’s proximity to the Pacific Palisades, many community members were among this population who lost their homes to the Palisades fire — one of the most destructive fires in Los Angeles history. In the days following the start of the fire, administration, students and teachers were left with one question: What can we do to help?
Lead members of Archer’s Artemis Center, Lucy Williams (’25) and Sophia Shin (’25) took this question to heart, and they began brainstorming ways to help affected students and faculty recover from this traumatic event. Shin and Williams realized that among the possessions that had burned in their homes were the Archer uniforms, which students wear to campus every day.
“As the Artemis Center, we were initially doing a lot of community-wide checking in with each other during the fires, but we kind of felt hopeless, especially in the first few days, not knowing what was going on. Seeing all the people in our community going through this devastation made us realize that as the activism board on campus, it was our duty to find a way to help,” Williams said. “So we thought about, you know, when kids come back to school, it’s going to be really important for them to have uniforms to get back into regularity, so we started a uniform drive to help our peers.”
Although Shin and Williams were the lead organizers of the drive, the other members of the Artemis Board reached out to the Student Council Executive Board to receive support through the outreach process. Student Body President Rachel Chung (’25) and Executive Board members Francie Wallack (’25) and Caroline Collis (’26) collaborated with Shin and Williams to create a Google form, which was then emailed to students to coordinate uniform drop-offs and pick-ups.
“Sophia and Lucy reached out to Exec about hosting a uniform drive on behalf of the Artemis Center and Student Council because they were worried about what the students who needed uniforms would do when we get back,” Chung said. “Then from there, they created a form that Exec emailed out to the school, asking who was able to donate uniforms, and then the collection process began.”
The drive was open to any Archer students — past and present — and the Google form was also posted to the Student Council Instagram page to gain more traction. Shin said she did not expect to receive nearly as many form responses as they did.
“The second we published [the form], we already had so many people filling it out,” Shin said. “There were so many responses from people of all ages — from sixth grade all the way to seniors and alumni. After that, I did a lot of driving around to pick up uniforms, and honestly, it was so great to see how so many people and families were so eager to help their classmates and community.”
After the uniforms were collected, Shin, Williams, Chung and Wallack met to organize and sort through the many piles of clothing. They sorted the clothes by size, item and color and placed them in containers that Shin eventually brought to school when students returned to campus.
“The first day back, we put out all of the uniforms so that those who needed new pieces could collect them throughout the day,” Chung said. “But we also decided that for the first two weeks of school, we would maybe have a more relaxed and open dress code policy. Exec proposed the idea of keeping the uniform guidelines loose so that students could rebuild their wardrobe and get the pieces that they needed throughout the week without facing repercussions.”
The administration communicated that students who were still rebuilding their uniform wardrobe were able to wear any black, gray or khaki bottoms and any gray or green sweatshirt. Chung said she and her collaborators were very grateful for the help of the administration in organizing the drive. Chung also said seeing the community come together during this tragic event reminded her of the resilience and togetherness of the Archer community.
“It gave me a lot of hope and reassurance that we’re all going to be okay, and that no matter the circumstances, we would always have each other’s backs,” Chung said. “Our community gathered together to support one another, and that was just really comforting to see.”