Mira Costa High School

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Mira Costa High School
Mira Costa High School.jpg
Location
Mira Costa High School
1401 Artesia Boulevard
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266

United States
Coordinates 33°52′25″N118°23′23″W / 33.87368°N 118.38976°W / 33.87368; -118.38976
Information
Type Public high school
MottoHome of the mustangs
Established1950
School district Manhattan Beach Unified School District (1993-)
South Bay Union High School District (-1993)
PrincipalJennifer Huynh [1]
Teaching staff107.99 [2]
Grades 912
Enrollment2,568 (2023-2024) [2]
Student to teacher ratio23.78 [2]
Color(s)   Green and Gold
Nickname Mustangs
Rival Redondo Union High School
PublicationLa Vista (Newspaper)
Reflections (student created work)
Mustang Morning News (student-run newscast)
YearbookHoofprints
Website www.miracostahigh.org

Mira Costa High School (MCHS, "Costa") is a four-year public high school located in Manhattan Beach, California that first opened 1950. It is the only high school in the Manhattan Beach Unified School District. The school's athletic teams are known as the Mustangs and the school colors are green and gold. Mira Costa is located on the corner of Peck Avenue and Artesia Boulevard.

Contents

History

Groundbreaking for the site of the school took place on May 24, 1949, for the first high school in Manhattan Beach. It was a forty-acre site that had belonged to a Japanese American landscaper who had been interned during World War II and was paid $60,000 for the land. Mira Costa High School opened on September 30, 1950. The school was dedicated by then-state superintendent of schools, Roy E. Simpson, with additional remarks made by the president of the board of trustees. [3] [4]

It was a part of the South Bay Union High School District until 1993, when this district was dissolved [5] and the Manhattan Beach Unified School District (MBUSD) was formed.

School information

As of the 2016–17 school year, the school had an enrollment of 2,517 students and 98 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 26:1. There were 63 students (2.5% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 22 (0.9% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch. [2]

Ethnic composition [2]
RacePercentage
American Indian/Alaskan Native0.3%
Asian/Pacific Islander10.8 %
Hispanic14.9%
Black5.4%
White58.8%
Multiple races9.7%

Mira Costa is the only high school in the MBUSD. All residents of Manhattan Beach are eligible to attend. Residents of Hermosa Beach may choose to attend Redondo Union High School of the Redondo Beach Unified School District or Mira Costa. As of Fall 2006, Redondo Beach residents living in the 90278 zip code were allowed to attend Mira Costa. [6]

Controversy

On June 11, 2020, hundreds of Mira Costa students and parents attended a march from Hermosa Beach to Manhattan Beach to celebrate their graduation in violation of CDC social distancing guidelines. Their actions attracted widespread negative attention from media and concerned citizens for putting others at risk during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. [7]

Extracurricular activities and programs

Choir program

The Mira Costa Choir Program consists of three curricular choirs, Vocal Ensemble, Choral Union (an upper voice choir), and MC voices, which meet during the school day year-round, and two small ensembles, Coterie and Mira Costa Muscle, which meet after school. [8]

In the summer of 2010 Vocal Ensemble sang in the International Festival of the Aegean in Syros, Greece. They performed as part of the opera chorus in Carmen and were the closing choir in the Sunset Concert at St. Nicholas Cathedral on Sunday 18 July 2010. [9]

In the Spring of 2011, all four Mira Costa Choirs performed in Carnegie Hall as part of Carnegie Hall's WorldStrides National Choral Festival. The Vocal Ensembled had the honor of performing as the featured solo choir. [10]

Mira Costa Bands

In May 2016, the Mira Costa Bands traveled to Carnegie Hall in New York as part of a series outlining the best band programs in the country. [11] The band had previously performed at Carnegie Hall in 2011. [12] In 2014 the band received the Grammy Foundation Signature Schools 2014 Gold Award, which includes a grant of $5000. [13]

La Vista

Mira Costa's student-run newspaper La Vista has been a perennial winner of silver and gold awards from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association since 1980. [14]

Mustang Morning News

The Mustang Morning News is a student-run broadcast. [15]

Model United Nations

Mira Costa Model United Nations is a debate team that takes part in mock debates of the United Nations. The team hosts the Los Angeles Invitational Model United Nations (LAIMUN) Conference, a novice and advanced conference held in docket-style debate. [16] Mira Costa's team has multiple Large School Delegation awards. [17]

Beach Cities Robotics

Costa students team up with Redondo Union High School students to create Beach Cities Robotics. The team participates in the organization FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) as Team 294. Beach Cities Robotics has won numerous awards since starting in 1997, including 2 World Championship wins. They scored 1st place at the FRC finals in 2001 against more than 50 other teams at the event from around the country. In 2008 they won first place at the inaugural FTC World Championship. Beach Cities Robotics won the FRC finals again in 2010 as its "alliance" captain, against over 300 teams attending the World Championship, and over 1800 teams worldwide. [18]

Volleyball team

Alix Klineman, who was named the 2005 and 2006 California Gatorade State Player of the Year for Volleyball, and the 2006 Gatorade National Player of the Year, led Mira Costa to three consecutive California State Championships, and three consecutive Southern Section California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Championships. [19] [20] The Boys' Volleyball team has won the Southern Section California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Championships in 1984, 1990, 1996, 2001, 2002, 2008 and 2012. [21]

Recognition

Mira Costa was recognized as a Blue Ribbon school in 1996. [22] [23] It was named a California Distinguished School by the Board of Education in 2011 [24] and ranked #341 nationally by Newsweek in 2015. [25] [26]

In 2000, 12th grade English teacher Marilyn Jachetti Whirry was selected as the National Teacher of the Year. [27] Whirry had taught at Mira Costa in the 1958–59 academic year and then from 1967 through 2000.

In September 2010, U.S. history teacher Bill Fauver was selected as one of Los Angeles County's 16 Teachers of the Year. He was once named MBUSD Teacher of the Year. [28] [29]

Notable alumni

In television and film

Mira Costa High School was a common filming location for the popular television series The O.C. [48] In 2006, a portion of the quad was used as a scene in The O.C. In 1981 portions of the film "Midnight Offerings" starring Melissa Sue Anderson were filmed on the campus.[ citation needed ] In 1979, many members of the football and cheerleading squads, attired in their green and gold uniforms, were included as extras in the film Rock 'n' Roll High School . The administration building of Mira Costa High School was used as the high school for the Disney Channel TV shows A.N.T Farm and Hannah Montana. In 2008, an episode of CSI: Miami was filmed on campus, using the pool and members of the varsity swim team as extras. In 2011, much of rapper Snoop Dogg's Mac & Devin Go to High School was filmed on campus, sparking a controversy over the characters' use of marijuana on school property and administration officials demanded that the footage not be used in the final movie. [49]

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References

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  4. "History of Manhattan Beach USD". Manhattan Beach Unified School District . Retrieved 2020-10-28.
  5. Kowsky, Kim (1992-11-05). "School District Reorganizations Win Handily : The breakup of South Bay Union High School District is approved. But a proposition moving control of two schools from Los Angeles to Rancho Palos Verdes is blocked by a judge". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 2020-10-28.
  6. Garrison Frost. "A Betrayal of Trust: The North Redondo Attendance Agreement and the Failure of Community Leadership". Archived from the original on 2014-01-16.
  7. Krystie Lee Yandoli (24 June 2020). "These High Schoolers Organized A Graduation March Where No One Wore Masks, And Now The Community Is Divided". BuzzFeed News .
  8. "The Mira Costa High School Choir Program" on school website. Retrieved 27 June, 2024.
  9. "2010 Festival of the Aegean," Festival of the Aegean.com. Retrieved 20 Dec. 2017.
  10. "Video: Mira Costa Choirs to Perform at Carnegie Hall". 2 February 2012.
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  13. "2014 GRAMMY Signature Schools Announced," Grammy.com. Retrieved 20 Dec. 2017.
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  28. Seaton, Carolyn. "Mira Costa High School Teacher Bill Fauver Archived 2012-03-26 at the Wayback Machine Honored as One of L.A. County’s “Sweet Sixteen” Teachers of the Year." Press Release, Manhattan Beach Unified School District. 21 Sept. 2010. Retrieved 10 March 2012.
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  33. Chick, Stevie (2011). Spray Paint the Walls: The Story of Black Flag. PM Press. p. 10. ISBN   9781604865844. Other distinguished Mira Costa alumni include screenwriter Roger Avary, who co-wrote Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, Seventies actress and The Price Is Right spokesmodel Anitra Ford, and a whole slew of future SoCal punk luminaries, members of the Descendents, Red Cross (who would become Redd Kross), Pennywise and, of course, Black Flag.
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  39. "Mira Costa honors six more distinguished alumni". The Beach Reporter. September 21, 2017. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
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  41. "Dylan O'Brien". IMDb. Retrieved 2015-11-19.
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  46. "Jahlani Tavai 'excited' for two younger brothers eligible for 2023 NFL Draft". Patriots. Retrieved 2023-12-08.
  47. "Heavy metal mandolin: How one Bay Area folk singer forged an unlikely career with Metallica".
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