I need to tell you about Angela Ribeiro.
Angela is a high school science and math teacher at Pasadena Waldorf School in Altadena, California. She has a master's degree in geology, a minor in astronomy, and wears her Dino Swoveralls to school with matching dinosaur earrings because that's just who she is.
In January 2025, the Eaton Fire destroyed their school. Completely. Eleven buildings on five acres, 47 years of history - gone.
50-60 students, families, colleagues, and alumni lost everything. The entire neighborhood of Altadena was devastated. "Every house, everywhere you look is completely gone," Angela told me. "The coffee shop, the grocery store, the churches, the local bars - everything."
But here's where it gets remarkable.
A family who lived across from the K-8 campus (which burned down) asked their relatives to check on the high school property a few streets over. When they got there, they found spot fires and palm trees burning. They saved one of the properties with a garden hose and camped out for three days to protect it.
The community rallied immediately. The school was only out for two weeks before a local church offered space. They moved to parks, libraries, museums, then spent half the year at a summer camp where classrooms were literally cabins with bunk beds pushed to the side. Every Friday they packed up everything; every Monday they unpacked.
This year, they finally found a more stable temporary home in Eagle Rock, though Angela - as a science teacher - still doesn't have access to a lab. "It's challenging," she says, "but it's a lot better than what it was."
What strikes me most about Angela's story isn't just the resilience - it's the realization her youngest students had: "We're still a school. We're all still here. I didn't lose my friends." They learned that school isn't buildings and things. It's people.
The Waldorf philosophy is about teaching kids to be themselves as they go into the world. Angela embodies that every day.
If you want to learn more about Pasadena Waldorf School or their recovery journey, visit pasadenawaldorf.org. National Geographic is doing a story on them coming out this fall. Their high school campus is currently being remediated with hopes of returning home next school year.
Sometimes comfort means soft fabric. Sometimes it means a community that shows up with garden hoses, offers you their church basement, and reminds you that you're never alone in the hard stuff.
Angela, we're honored to have you in the comfy fam, and thank you for all that you do! 🦕🚀
