Pasadena High School seniors celebrate prom, with a lesson in mind: ‘Cherish what you have’ (2025)

It was a night they’ve looked forward to since they were little.

But some Pasadena High School students never thought this particular Friday night would come.

Prom.

As seniors prepared to head into their final semester of high school, the Eaton fire struck their community in the final days of their winter break, leaving behind a destructive wake in its path.

Roughly two-thirds of Pasadena Unified School District’s 14,000 students were evacuated, and more than 800 of its families lost their homes.

Suddenly, it felt like traditional senior festivities and the final semester they hoped for were no longer in the picture.

But just 100 days after the Eaton fire, nearly 400 Pasadena High seniors rolled into Arbat Banquet Hall in Burbank on Friday, April 25, for a night they would truly remember.

It was a scene that belied the pummeled parcels and crumpled skeletons of buildings not far away: Students strutted down the red carpet with their friends and dates, each showcasing the best of their personal style, before they headed into their Great Gatsby-themed prom. They enjoyed a multi-course dinner, photo booths, and of course, a live deejay to soundtrack it all.

In many ways, it looked like any other prom – students in their best tuxedos and gowns, dancing the night away. But for this night to happen, the PUSD community had just a few months to put together an event that typically takes a year to plan.

Despite the tremendous loss their students and faculty faced, school administrators hoped to still give seniors a sense of normalcy, and the final year of high school they were hoping for.

This means that student leaders, like Pasadena High School senior class president Daniella Novo, had to step up to the challenge.

Before January, Novo, one of the students in charge of organizing the prom, was finalizing the last details of the event. She was focused on ordering decorations, deciding what the theme was going to be, and how she was going to announce it to the rest of her senior class.

“After the first week of January, that all went out the window, and I kind of had to start from scratch again,” Novo said.

Pasadena High didn’t open for spring semester until the end of January, but even then, not all students came back.

For students who lost their homes in the fire, like childhood friends Jadyn Addicott and Gianna Gullon, everything seemed uncertain. Going back to school was the last thing on their minds.

“I didn’t even know if I would be going to college. I wasn’t thinking about any of that. I was just in the moment of, my house is not here anymore. And it was really scary,” Addicott said. “I didn’t know what my next step was, if I would have grad night, or prom, or graduation, and even if I would go back to school.

“I felt really shut down,” added Gullon, who said she lost her entire childhood and the memories associated with it. “But it’s events like these that help people look forward.”

Gullon stated that it was difficult having to adapt to a new sense of normalcy, but expressed that she was happy to be with Addicott, who made her feel like she wasn’t alone, and receive support from the school.

This year, the Eaton fire gave prom a deeper meaning, which was to “cherish what you have,” said Addicott.

“I miss my house a lot, and I miss all the memories that were in it. But the truth is that the people that made those memories are still here,” said Addicott.

Equally important is also making new memories with those people, said Gullon.

Something like prom might seem trivial in the context of the Eaton fire and the loss students were facing, but Novo wanted to make sure her peers had something normal and shared to look forward to in a very abnormal year.

One of the ways she wanted the night to happen for as many students as possible was to bring down the cost of tickets.

On a Monday in March, Novo said she was running around to former teachers, advisors, and other school administrators to see if there was a company who would be willing to help fund the tickets.

“I know a couple of students that could not come back to school this year, or they had to do online school, or had to move away because they were displaced,” said Novo. “That really impacted the cost of prom. The last thing I wanted to do was put the price on the students.”

The next day, on Tuesday, actor Steve Carell announced he would be covering the cost of prom for all Pasadena High School students, with the help of Virginia-based charity Alice’s Kids. Novo said she was “not expecting it all”, and can be seen crying “tears of joy” in a video reacting to the announcement.

As Pasadena High students wrap up a year that was fraught with devastation but also community resilience, seniors made sure that this would be a night they would never forget.

Julianna Lozada is a Los Angeles-area freelance writer.

Originally Published: April 26, 2025 at 11:56 AM PDT