Signs damp, shoes soaked, voices hoarse–dozens of Pali and Samohi students stood shoulder to shoulder on the corner of Ocean and Colorado, just a block away from Pali South on Nov. 14, chanting for climate justice. 

Students were not just demanding action from world leaders attending the upcoming United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) conference, but from those closest to home in Santa Monica. After a year defined by wildfires, displacement and the very real consequences of climate change, the urgency felt less like rebellion and more like survival. 

The First Amendment of the U.S Constitution guarantees the “right of the people peaceably to assembly,” a protection applied not only in theory but in the landmark student protest case, Tinker v. Des Moines (1969). The Supreme Court held that when public school students wore black armbands to protest the Vietnam War, students did not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” This protects students against the possibility of school administrations inhibiting their right to protest. 

So, while our schoolhouse gate may be surrounding a converted department store, Sears, the principle remains the same. The right to assemble has echoed across Pali’s campus for decades. At Pali, protest isn’t an anomaly, but rather, a tradition. 

Pali’s history of student activism stretches back more than 60 years. Not long after its founding date of 1961, students in the 1960s staged the now-famous ‘long hair’ protest, challenging restrictive grooming rules forcing male students to wear short hair, attempting to police identity and appearance. What some adults dismissed as teenage rebellion was, in reality, an early assertion of autonomy and insistence that students deserve control over their own bodies and expression. 

The fight reverberated across generations.

Fast forward to the 2020s, where another protest emerged, this time over the dress code. In 2021, a new dress code in correspondence with the LAUSD dress code rolled out on the PCHS campus. Students argued that the rules hindered student expression, were unevenly enforced and often targeted female students. Their petitions, meetings and testimonies ultimately culminated in a schoolwide shift: the removal of that dress code. 

“When issues gain as much traction as that did amongst our student body, we, as administrators, find it imperative to address those concerns and implement them within our decision making as much as possible,” said Pali Assistant Principal Tyler Farrell. “We act within certain guardrails and sometimes that means decision making is slow, but we make it a point to be responsive to what students think and feel.”

Students won. And that victory supports a broader truth: when students apply pressure, progress can follow. The student body’s protests challenged that restrictive norms weren’t just about clothing. It was about the right to free expression. It’s a message that feels strikingly similar to the ones chanted this month for climate justice. 

This past week, Pali students joined alongside Santa Monica High School (Samohi) and their youth activists in a Fridays for Future climate strike, coinciding with global actions tied to the UNFCCC conference. The campaign centers on “Make Polluters Pay,” a policy push calling on Santa Monica to support legislation holding major companies accountable for the climate change effects they are proliferating with fossil fuel usage. 

Pali senior Maria Knierim, the student head of this protest, described the collaboration with Samohi as not just a fun way to include more voices, but necessary as Pali is now only three-tenths of a mile away from Samohi due to the disastrous effects of the fire. 

“It felt especially vital now having school in an old Sears building as literal victims of climate change and its most extreme effects like wildfires,” Knierim said. 

She credited Steve Engelmann, Pali’s Advanced Placement Environmental Science teacher, as a “champion for student protests,” and praised Pali’s staff for cultivating a campus where student voices are truly valued. 

“Pali has a really supportive environment encouraging us to use our voice,” Knierim said. “There is a foundation of trust and transparency that allows students to meaningfully participate whether in board meetings, student leadership or community protests.” 

Pali’s administration sees student activism as a vital part of the school’s values. With student organizations like Ambassadors and the Associated Student Body acting as major influences to school-wide functioning and decisions, the inevitability of student advocacy is something that Pali welcomes with open arms.

Farrell said, “We have a really unique culture established on campus that involves students in a lot of decision-making processes… student voices act as a compass guiding us in the policies we end up writing and enforcing.”

Though the issues have changed, the principle remains steady: Pali students challenge systems that are slow to adapt. In the 1960s, students questioned gender norms and discipline structures. In 2021, students challenged the policing of expression. Today’s students confront climate inaction and are demanding accountability.

The petition for Santa Monica’s “Make Polluters Pay” resolution is still gathering signatures. This advocacy aligns with the city’s existing climate goals which include reaching carbon neutrality by 2050 as part of the existing Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP) adopted in 2019. 

“The main campaign, ‘Make Polluters Pay,’ is addressing the fossil fuel companies and other companies that have incredible amounts of money and are the main contributors to fossil fuel usage,” Knierim said. “This idea came about because the campaign has been trying to get the city of Santa Monica to pass this resolution. When Mr. Engelmann told me about this project, he said he wanted it to make it more kid centered and youth empowered.”

Speaking to the school’s culture, Knierim explained how her time at Pali has furthered her resolve in student activism. 

“Freshman year, I wasn’t the kid who was chanting… now it’s a full circle moment as a senior now leading the chants,” Knierim said. “My four years at Pali really let me grow as a student advocate.”

Protest and activism is not unique to Pali. At high schools all over the nation, calling out school, city, county, state and government officials and holding them accountable for their actions remains a crucial tenet of preserving democracy. The skills and confidence that students gain from staging their own small high school protests sets them up to meaningfully contribute to demand change.

At a time when young people are inheriting a world altered by so much instability, protest isn’t disorder, but instead preparation for our futures. It teaches students to identify systemic problems, collaborate, negotiate, and advocate. These are not just skills for school but for future changemakers. 

As Knierim put it, “This is a school where students can make pretty much anything happen.”

Her message to younger students about protesting is simple: “Pick something you’re passionate about and just go for it.”