Paradise High School

When the Camp Fire destroyed most of the town of Paradise in November 2018, the school campus was mostly spared, losing only a half dozen temporary classrooms.[5] The wildfire, the worst in California's history,[6] burned down 19,000 structures and killed 85 people.[7] The population of the town of Paradise plummeted from 26,800 to 2,034.[8] The campus was shut down for the remainder of the 2018–2019 school year; students studied in nearby Chico, California or via online courses wherever they were staying. In June 2019, 220 seniors returned to the empty campus for their graduation ceremony on the football field.[9]

When the school reopened its doors in the fall of 2019, an enrollment of 600 was expected, but 900 showed up on the first day of school.[10] Many of the students had lost their homes in the fire, and some were living with friends or driving long distances to attend school each day.[5][11]

The school made national news when its football team, less than a year after the fire, had an undefeated regular season and went to the section championship. Only three members of the varsity team were living in Paradise; the rest were commuting from locations up to 90 minutes away.[5] But the team had vowed to make a championship run, saying they were "playing for the brothers we lost."[12][13] (No Paradise High School students died in the fire.[14]) The entire town and surrounding communities rallied behind the team. One player commented, "You look at the stands, the whole town of Paradise is here... it's really our only event right now, so it means everything".[12] Paradise Mayor Jody Jones said, "The football team has come to represent all of us".[7]