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Success Stories
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07 Feb 2012
MBMS “Mathletes” Win Regional MathCounts Competition
On Saturday, February 4, 2012, ten students from Manhattan Beach Middle School participated in the Westside/South Bay Los Angeles Regional MathCounts competition held at Northrop Grumman in Redondo Beach. Congratulations to the following ten participants for MBMS’ strongest showing ever in a regional MathCounts event: Shubhayu Bhattacharyay, Owen Konsmo, Andrew Liu, Ethan Lu, Michelle Lu, Peter Lu, Meera Nagpal, Pooja Nagpal, Jonathan Sklar, and Tanner Yamada. The final team of Bhattacharyay, Konsmo, Liu, and Yamada won first place out of 19 teams at the event. In addition, competing as an individual, Ethan Lu was the top individual scorer and qualified to go to state. Peter Lu placed third of all individual competitors. Six MBMS students placed in the top 20 out of 162 total competitors. The team of Bhattacharyay, Konsmo, Liu, and Yamada will continue on and represent both MBMS and the Manhattan Beach Unified School District at the MathCounts state competition on March 17 at U.C. Irvine.
MathCounts is a national middle school math competition program sponsored by Northrop Grumman and Raytheon. The mission of MathCounts is to inspire excellence, confidence, and curiosity in U.S. middle school students through fun and challenging math programs. The competition typically consists of three rounds: Sprint, Target, and Team. The Sprint Round is comprised of 30 problems that must be completed in 40 minutes. Only the most capable students can finish all of the problems in the time allowed. The Target Round offers eight problems presented to competitors in four pairs. Students are given six minutes to solve each pair of multi-step problems that require strong mathematical reasoning and problem solving skills. Finally, in the Team Round, team members collaborate to solve ten problems in twenty minutes. During this round, team member interaction is expected and encouraged.
Prior to participating in regional chapter competitions, students compete at the school level to earn one of ten team spots. Following the regional event, finalists progress to the state competition. The best mathematicians at the state level will advance to the national competition which will be held in Orlando, Florida, later this year. The MBMS MathCounts mathletes were supported throughout their journey by coaches Justin Warfield and Dr. Mitch Sklar who fostered a strong team spirit and made math enjoyable while providing excellent preparation and mentorship. To learn more about MathCounts, log on to https://mathcounts.org/.
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30 Nov 2011
MBMS Receives Plaque for New Chinese I Language Course
MBMS is proud to announce its successful implementation of Chinese I for seventh graders this year. The school received a plaque from the Confucius Institute at San Diego State to celebrate this achievement. See the full story here!
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28 Oct 2011
MCHS Choirs to Perform at Carnegie Hall
The Vocal Ensemble has been selected as the featured choir at the “Festival at Carnegie” at Carnegie Hall in New York City to sing on a national stage. The VE and approximately 70 other members of the Mira Costa choirs are expected to make the trip on March 3-5, 2012. MBAF recently highlighted the trip on their home page at www.mbathleticfoundation.org and has made donating to the trip in any amount a simple online task. Please visit the page by clicking on the link and help contribute to this opportunity of lifetime for our students.
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28 Oct 2011
Reducing Class Size Increases Possibilities
Your donation to MBEF makes a difference for your child every day. One key difference is class size. Where neighboring districts have average class sizes of 32-40 students, ours are much lower across all our schools. In elementary school, K-3 grade classes average 22 students. (more) And new this year, an MBEF grant to MBMS reduced Humanities and English class sizes:
- 6th grade Humanities classes dropped from 31 to 28 students
- 7th and 8th grade English dropped from 30 to 26 students
For sixth graders that means half of their day is spent in a smaller class setting, which eases the transition to middle school. This despite an increase in total students for the year.
At Costa, your donations are supporting smaller English classes from 9-12th grade:
- Average class size of 22 for 9th grade
- Average class size of 27 for 10th, 11th and 12th grade
And new this year, your donations fund “readers” who help read students’ writing. This in turn allows English teachers to give more assignments and more meaningful feedback.
“If we could institute only one change to make students more college ready, it should be to increase the amount and quality of writing students are expected to produce.”
- David Conley, Director of the Center for Educational Policy Research -
28 Oct 2011
MIra Costa is a Top 100 School in Math and Science!
Mira Costa High School was recently named by US New and World Report as one of the Top 100 High Schools in Math and Science Instruction. Mira Costa continues to show the excellence our kids have to look forward to!
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02 Sep 2011
MBEF Grants for the 2011-2012 School Year
If we could grant just one wish to the students of MBUSD, what would it be? Hmmm. How about $4.6 million dollars to support a rich academic curriculum that includes music, science, writing, technology, teachers and more? Their wish is our command: Click to see a list of MBEF’s 2011-12 grants!
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02 Sep 2011
MBUSD Introduces New iPad Program
Our success is showing! Following recent research on 21st Century Education, MBUSD is conducting a districtwide pilot to understand how the use of iPads could enhance student learning. A grant from MBEF will provide MBUSD with the resources to keep your child’s curriculum at pace with the world.
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29 Aug 2011
Vocalist DJ Stanfill Receives Presidential Scholar Award
Congratulations go to Mira Costa graduate, DJ Stanfill, for his Presidential Scholar Award in Voice! He traveled to Washington, DC, June 19-20 to accept the award, ending the visit with a performance at the Kennedy Center by all the scholar award winners nationwide. His choir teacher, Mr. Michael Hayden, was also in DC to speak with leaders about visual and performing arts education and received a Teacher Recognition Award in conjunction with the Presidential Scholar Program.
DJ Stanfill and His Parents at the Presidential Scholar award ceremony
The 2011 Presidential Scholar Award Class
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07 Jun 2011
College & University Acceptances for MCHS class of 2011
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