Photo by Chloe Lelchuk
By Michael Beeli
Staff Writer
Mira Costa held its 4th annual Distinguished Alumni and Hall of Fame ceremony in the auditorium on Oct. 7 to honor five alumni for their accomplishments after graduation.
The five inductees included Swati Adarkar, class of 1981; Milo Aukerman, ‘81; Homer Johnstone, ‘53; Dennison Kerlee, ‘62; and Kim Komick, ‘82.
The various inductees were introduced as a group by Costa Principal Dr. Ben Dale and then individually by Economics teacher Chuck Currier. Each individual nominee was introduced by a variety of students who had a common interest with the respective inductee. For example, Costa surf team captain senior Davis Sanchez introduced Johnstone because they are both involved in surfing.
“The experience was fantastic,” Sanchez said. “It was inspiring to spend the day and learn from someone who is so accomplished.”
During two assemblies, Costa awarded the alumni with leis to represent the work they’ve accomplished after graduating Costa. Adarkar received the award for her humanitarian work as the chief executive officer for Children’s Institute, a child advocacy group in Oregon. Aukerman is the lead singer of the Descendants, a punk rock group that was founded while he was at Costa. Johnstone served in the U.S. army for 26 years and founded the AFA Construction Incorporated, which specializes in environmental engineering. Kerlee also served in the army as a medical corpsman for a year. After his service ended, he worked at rural clinics in low-income areas. Komick owns the KKC Fine Homes Construction Company where she has built more than 100 homes around the South Bay.
“The assemblies are intended to introduce these alumni to Costa students so current students can see that these people who have done amazing things in their lives started pretty much just like them, as teens at Costa,” Dale’s secretary, Heather Hoffman, said.
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