Mira Costa High School

School information

Total Enrollment: 2,323

Ethnic composition (as of 2011):

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.

The 2008 Golden State Competition was hosted at Mira Costa High School. Vocal Ensemble took 2nd place in the small group division. In 2009, Vocal Ensemble was selected to be a part of the Best of High School A Capella (BOHSA) 2009 CD compilation with Eric Whitacre's "Sleep". They were the only school from California out of 13 nationally recognized choirs.

In 2009, all four choirs took Superior ratings at SCVA choir festivals, and Vocal Ensemble performed as a showcase choir at Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles.

In the summer of 2010 Vocal Ensemble was the first high school choir to sing in the International Festival of the Aegean in Syros, Greece. They performed as part of the opera chorus in Carmen. They also were the closing choir in the Sunset Concert at St. Nicholas Cathedral on Sunday 18 July 2010.

Mira Costa Bands

This coming spring, the Mira Costa Bands are travelling to Carnegie Hall in New York as part of a series outlining the best band programs in the country.

Under the direction of Mr. Joel Carlson, the GRAMMY® award-winning music program for the bands at Mira Costa High School (MCHS) in Manhattan Beach, CA is rooted in a tradition of and a commitment to comprehensive music education through performance. The core of the MCHS Music Program for wind players and percussionists consists of four performance ensembles which meet during the school day: Concert Band, Jazz 1, Symphonic Band, and Wind Ensemble. Additionally, students have further performance opportunities with the Marching Ensembles, After-School Jazz Bands, Indoor Percussion and Percussion Studio and Orchestral Winds. Recent MCHS Music and Band Program awards include:

GRAMMY® Foundation Signature Schools 2014 Gold Award

As One of the Top Three Public High School Music Programs in the Nation

Southern California School Band & Orchestra Association’s 2013 Marching Band Championships

Bronze Medalist, 4A Division

California Music Educators Association (CMEA) All State Band and Orchestra Festival

Unanimous Superior, Wind Ensemble

2014 Riverside Community College Jazz Festival

First Place, Advanced Division

The MCHS Bands program is supported by the Band Boosters. All Wind and Percussion students that participate in performing groups at MCHS are enrolled in the Bands program, under the direction of Joel Carlson.

The Band Boosters also support the Colorguard/Winterguard program.

Year-Round Curricular Ensembles

Concert Band

Symphonic Band

Wind Ensemble

Jazz Band I

Colorguard/Winterguard, coached by Richard Hernandez, Caption Head and Designer, and Stefani Owen, Program Coordinator

Seasonal Curricular Ensemble

Marching Band

Jazz 2

Competitive Indoor Percussion & Percussion Studio, directed by Jeremy Miller, Instructor

Extracurricular Ensembles

Symphony Orchestra and Philharmonic Orchestra, directed by Peter Park, Orchestra Director

Pit Orchestra for the Spring Musical, directed by Mark McCormick, Choral Accompanist and Pit Orchestra Director

Orchestra program

The Mira Costa Symphony Orchestra performed at Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles in June 2009 and at Carnegie Hall in New York in 2006 and 2016. The Symphony Orchestra has performed at many adjudicated festivals sponsored by SCSBOA (Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association) and consistently receives a ‘superior’ rating, the highest rating awarded by SCSBOA. The Mira Costa Orchestra is also a member of the LA Philharmonic Fellowship Program, where members of the LA Philharmonic coach and mentor the students. The Symphony Orchestra has also competed in ASTA's national orchestra festival for the first time in 2012.

Drama/Tech Program

The Mira Costa Drama Department puts on two or more shows per year, a fall play in the fall and a musical in the spring. Costa also houses a successful Comedy Sportz team within the drama department, recruiting members at annual tryouts. The department is one of the best in the South Bay. The department is known for raising talented actors and talented technicians. Every year, the tech theatre class sends two teams to compete in the annual "Tech Olympics" competition and place in the top 3.

Cheer team

Cheerleading is one of the few all-year activities at Mira Costa.

Dance team

The Mira Costa Dance Team is a varsity team which has won many awards for its excellence and professionalism.

Mira Costa Key Club

The Mira Costa Key Club is a community service club that is the High School subsidiary of the Mira Costa Kiwanis.

La Vista

Mira Costa's student-run newspaper is the oldest student organization on campus and has been active since the school's creation in 1950. The La Vista staff produces 10 issues a year plus one "Cub" edition, wherein the staff for the next year makes the publication. It is known for its annual college issue, in which a large center spread is devoted to geographically mapping where each senior at Mira Costa will be attending school the following year, as well as for its annual photo contest.

A nationally recognized high school newspaper, La Vista has been a perennial winner of silver and gold awards from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association since 1980. In its most recent rating from CSPA (for the 2011-12 school year), La Vista received a score of 977/1000, Gold Medalist standing and All-Columbian Honors in every category. During the 2009-10 school year, the newspaper's staff ventured into web content for the first time, and today the more-than-80 members of La Vista are heavily involved with its website.

Mira Costa Leo Club

The Mira Costa Leo Club is a community service club in association with the International Lions Club.

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. Upholding the west-coast style of debate, Mira Costa's MUN team has won Large School Delegation awards throughout the nation holding the No. 1 position in the United States as of 2012.

Mira Costa Science Olympiad Club

The Mira Costa Science Olympiad Club is a competitive Science Olympiad team that first qualified for the California State Championships after the team medaled in six events in the LA Regional competition in spring of 2013. The team is advised by Jessica Bledsoe.

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. FIRST is an organization that fosters the advancement of science and technology by sponsoring programs for all grade levels and holding robotics competitions internationally. The premier event, FIRST FRC competition, gives teams six weeks to design, build, and test a robot to compete in a team-based game according to the rules of the specific competition. Students participating in the robotics club gain hands-on experience in engineering, physics, math, programming, public relations, teamwork, and many other skills.

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 live, nationally award-winning newscast produced by broadcast journalism students at Mira Costa. The shows are aired to the campus twice a week, and by podcast. The broadcast journalism program has become a campus fixture and launched film and television careers of its alumni. It consists of two class periods (one beginning, one advanced) of approximately 50 students. The newscast is run as a public forum for student expression, meaning that students make all content and editorial decisions as allowed by California free speech law (using the Tinker standard).

The staff are members of national journalism organizations such as the National Scholastic Press Association, Journalism Education Association. They travel to and compete at national conventions sponsored by these groups, and have won multiple awards for their work, including the prestigious Broadcast Pacemaker from the National Scholastic Press Association.

Alumni of the program have attended film school at USC, NYU, Boston University, Loyola Marymount and others, and broadcast journalism schools including USC Annenberg School of Communication and Northwestern. Other students have worked at ABC and Miramax Films. Dan Goldstein, class of 2004, won MTV's Best Filmmaker on Campus 2008. Andrew Ceperley, class of 2004, directed and photographed short films for Paramount Pictures' Blu-ray release of the "Friday the 13th" film series in 2008 and 2009.

Outstanding teachers

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.

In February 2014, Media Arts teacher Michael Hernandez was named National Broadcast Adviser of the Year by the Journalism Education Association. This follows recognitions as a S'Park Media Mentor by Ithaca College and as a Jacobs Educator by Indiana University. Mr. Hernandez is also an Apple Distinguished Educator and Google Certified Teacher. He speaks regularly at regional and national conferences like CUE and ISTE on topics such as scholastic journalism and technology in education. He founded the Media Arts program at Mira Costa in 1999, where he has served as department chair for the Visual and Performing Arts Department, and sponsor for the Cinema Club which hosts the annual South Bay Student Video Festival, a showcase for outstanding high school film and video projects. He is also the adviser for the nationally award-winning Mustang Morning News broadcast journalism program.

Fall sports

Winter sports

Spring sports

Notable alumni

In television and film

Mira Costa High School was a common filming location for the popular television series The O.C. and CSI: Miami. 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. Recently, the administration building of Mira Costa High School was used as the high school for the Disney TV show Hannah Montana starring Miley Cyrus. 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. Mira Costa was also used for Double Trouble series.