Mira Costa Students Bring Home Huge Wins
Feb 14, 2024 08:59AM ● By Jeanne Fratello
Photo via Mira Costa Bands
It's been a huge week for Mira Costa kids, who brought home major national and local victories.
Jazz Band Takes Top National Prize
Mira Costa High School's Jazz Band won the "Super Bowl" of jazz competitions over the past weekend, taking home a first place award at the 2024 National Jazz Festival.
(Photo credit: Mira Costa Bands)Mira Costa’s own Jazz 1 was not only crowned as Champions of Division L-1 (which is reserved for big bands from the largest schools), but earned the highest score given to any of the bands and combos at this year’s National Jazz Festival.
Band directed by Wayne Tucker.
The students performed under the direction of renowned Mira Costa Band Director Joel Carlson.
“I knew two weeks into the school year that this band had the talent to perform on a national stage," said Carlson. "They worked so hard and put in the time and effort. They went beyond what was asked of them and exceeded my highest expectations for what a high school band can be. I always tell my students to choose a path of excellence, and the reward will follow.”
Jazz 1 band members include: Saxophone: Colin Freelin, Morgan Griffiths, Mikayla Grothe, Jacob Handzlik, Miles McPhee; Trombone: Nick Clausen, Chuan Eliezer, Logan Elliott, Shan Kwak; Trumpet: Eva Asiddao, Devan Malik, Ewan McPhee, Colin Mukai; Rhythm: Diego Barrios, Ever Bauer, Gavin Caleo, Christian Camacho, Anthony Imbagliazzo, Jared Manasse, and Christofer Nahlinder.
National Merit Scholars
All seven of Mira Costa's National Merit Semi-Finalists have been named National Merit Scholars. Those students are Kina Desai, Veronica Fish, Charles Hiatt, William Kiely, Naomi Kim, Adam Manasfi, and Mia Roman-Wilson.
(Photo credit: MBUSD)More than 1.3 million juniors in about 21,000 high schools entered the 2024 National Merit
Scholarship Program by taking the 2022 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants.
Scholarship Program by taking the 2022 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants.
The nationwide pool of
semifinalists, less than one percent of U.S. high school
seniors, represented the highest-scoring entrants in each state.
To
become a finalist, the semifinalist had to submit a detailed scholarship
application. The National Merit
Scholarship winners were selected from this group of finalists on the
basis of their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in
rigorous college studies. Of the more than 16,000 semifinalists, approximately 15,000 advanced to the finalist level.
Cheer Team
Mira Costa's cheer team has been in Florida competing in the Universal Cheerleaders Association's (UCA's) National High School Cheerleading Championship at Disney World.
(Photo credit: Mira Costa Cheer)The girls' Gameday team placed 7th in the country and the Traditional team placed 6th.
La Vista Newspaper
Mira Costa's student newspaper, La Vista, took home three first place awards at the L.A. Times' High School Insider Youth Journalism Conference at Loyola Marymount University this past weekend.
(Photo credit: La Vista Media)The team brought home top awards in news writing, feature writing, and opinion writing.
