Mira Costa High School (MCHS, "Costa") is a four-year public high school located in Manhattan Beach, California that first began operating in 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.
Video Mira Costa High School
School information
As of the 2016-17 school year, the school had an enrollment of 2,517 students and 98.6 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student-teacher ratio of 25.5:1. There were 63 students (2.5% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 22 (0.9% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.
Maps Mira Costa High School
Attendance zone
Mira Costa is the only high school in the Manhattan Beach Unified School District. 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 MCHS. As of Fall 2006, Redondo Beach residents living in the 90278 zip code were allowed to attend Mira Costa. Occasionally, MBUSD policy did not allow Redondo Beach residents living in the 90278 ZIP code to attend MCHS.
Extracurricular activities and programs
Choir program
The Mira Costa Choir Program consists of four curricular choirs, Vocal Ensemble, Men's Choir, Advanced Women's Chorale, and Concert Choir, which meet during the school day year-round, and two small ensembles, Coterie, Mira Costa Muscle, which meet after school.
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.
Mira Costa Bands
In May 2016, the Mira Costa Bands travelled to Carnegie Hall in New York as part of a series outlining the best band programs in the country. The band had previously performed at Carnegie Hall in 2011. In 2014 the band received the Grammy Foundation Signature Schools 2014 Gold Award, which includes a grant of $5000.
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.
Model United Nations
Mira Costa Model United Nations (MUN) is a debate team that takes part in mock debates of the United Nations. Mira Costa MUN hosts the Los Angeles Invitational Model United Nations (LAIMUN) Conference, a novice and advanced conference held in docket-style debate. Mira Costa's MUN team has won Large School Delegation award in 2012.
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 and one National Championship win. 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.
Mustang Morning News
The Mustang Morning News is a student-run broadcast run weekly on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Recognition
Mira Costa was recognized as a Blue Ribbon school in 1996. More recently, it was named a California Distinguished School by the Board of Education in 2011 and was ranked #341 nationally by Newsweek in 2015.
In 2000, Marilyn Jachetti Whirry (January 12, 1935 - September 2, 2005) a 12th grade English teacher, was selected as the National Teacher of the Year. 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. Since he began teaching at Mira Costa in 1986, Fauver has served as vice principal, chair of the social studies department, and as advisor for many extracurricular activities. Fauver had been honored three times as the school's Teacher of the Year and was once named Manhattan Beach Unified School District Teacher of the Year.
Notable alumni
- Jeff Atkinson - former indoor mile American record holder, Olympian
- Milo Aukerman - 1981, singer for punk rock band the Descendents
- Roger Avary - 1983, writer (Pulp Fiction, Beowulf), director (Killing Zoe, The Rules of Attraction), producer
- David Benoit - jazz pianist and composer
- Rachel Bloom - comedian, actress, and writer (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend)
- KC Corkery - tennis player and NCAA champion
- Cozz (Cody Osagie) - 2011, rapper
- Mike Dodd - world class volleyball player and current coach
- Fletcher Dragge - 1984, lead guitarist of punk band Pennywise
- Eric Fonoimoana - 1988, gold medal winning Olympian, professional volleyball player
- Anitra Ford - 1960, actress and model, original model on The Price Is Right, 1972-1977
- Greg Ginn - 1971, founding member of Black Flag (band)
- Robert Hecker - 1983, lead guitarist for the bands Redd Kross and It's OK!
- Eric Leckner - 1984, College basketball player at Wyoming University
- Jim Lindberg - 1983, lead singer of punk bands Pennywise and Black Pacific
- Gavin MacIntosh - 2016, actor in The Fosters and American Fable
- Holly McPeak - Olympian, professional volleyball player
- Joe Moeller - 1960, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher, 1962-1971
- Keith Morris - 1973, founding member of Black Flag and the Circle Jerks
- Dylan O'Brien - 2009, actor in MTV's Teen Wolf and The Maze Runner movies
- Mike Okwo - 2003, professional football player, Chicago Bears
- Jim Pena - 1982, professional baseball player, San Francisco Giants
- Margie Profet - 1976, scientist, winner of MacArthur Fellowship in 1993
- Jeff Rohrer - 1977, professional football player, Dallas Cowboys, 1982-1987
- Dana Short - 1983, actress (St. Elsewhere)
- Bill Stevenson - 1981, drummer for punk rock bands the Descendents, Black Flag, and ALL
- Danny Strong - 1992, actor (Danny on AMC's Mad Men), award-winning writer (HBO's Recount)
- Jason Thirsk - 1986, former bass player and member of the band Pennywise
- Kelly Vitz - 2006, actress
- Dewey Weber - 1956, surfer, surf industry icon
- Scott Whyte - 1996, actor
- Marianne Wibberley & Cormac Wibberley - screenwriters (National Treasure)
- Scott Williams - 1984, professional figure skater, coach
- Gigi McClure - 2013, American young adult author
- J.R. Tavai - 2015-2016, Linebacker for Tennessee titans
In television and film
Mira Costa High School was a common filming location for the popular television series The O.C. In 1981 portions of the film "Midnight Offerings" starring Melissa Sue Anderson were filmed on the campus. 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 2006, a portion of the quad was used as a scene in The OC. 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. Although administration officials demanded that the footage not be used in the final movie, viewers of the film can spot many notable Mira Costa landmarks, such as the administration offices, science classrooms, and locker halls.
References
External links
- Official website
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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