Cara Martinez
Staff Writer
Mira Costa featured six alumni at its sixth annual Hall Of Fame assembly on Sept. 22 in the auditorium.
According to Hall of Fame Chairperson, Denise Anderson this event honored past mustangs who have pursued their passions in their careers. During the assembly, the docents introduced the inductees and Mr. Currier gave a biography about each alumni.The alumni spoke about what they learned during their time at Costa and the contributions they have made to the community and society such as, missionary health work and designing parts of Disneyland and California Adventure.
“We started this event so the future of Mira Costa and the current students, former students and future students could really see how prepared our students are for the real world,” Hall of Fame Chairperson Denise Anderson said.
This year’s assembly showcased, Nathan Brostrom, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the University of California System, Darla Sowers Calhoun, a registered nurse, Greg Fontana, an award winning architect, Carrie Nugent, an Asteroid Hunter who works for NASA, Paul Silva, a local editor and publisher and Toni Beaumont Tomasek, who devoted her life to human services in third world countries before she died.
“I was very surprised when I found out I was nominated for the hall of fame,”Calhoun said. “There are a lot of very wonderful and qualified people to be honored and I don’t think I am more special than anybody else. The fact that somebody chose me makes it very special and I feel a sense of responsibility to live up to that honor”
The planning committee consisted of Associated Student Body members Breegan Knudson, Rebecca Rosin and Hanna Enomoto, Denise Anderson, Carol Meeks, Heather Hoffman and Chuck Currier. The people involved in the selection committee were Dr. Dale, former inductees Huntley Castner and Dr. Gary Hartzell, Jan Norris, Jennifer Wildenberg and Keke Hartley. Both committees have been preparing since February and their preparation process consisted of, nominations, organizing the assembly and docents, meals and publicity.
“This assembly was really special because it was a unique opportunity to really get to know and learn about the Mira Costa alumni who have been successful,” ASB Community Relations Commissioner, Breegan Knudson said. “It is really cool that most of these people attribute specific aspects and experiences that they had at our high school.
The inductees spoke about their interests, memories and activities they were involved in at their time at costa. They also shared stories they had at costa and they finished their speeches with words of wisdom that they live by to this day.
“I would say that you are going to try to go into a lot of directions and be confused,” Hall of Fame inductee Greg Fontana said. “The fact is you are not going to know what you are going to do with your life in high school. Be patient and do what you love and try to pursue what interests you and makes you happy.”
The costa alumni were featured the following evening at the first home football game. The alumni got recognized during the game and they all took a group photo on the field.
“It was really powerful to be able to have some things in common with people that are extremely successful,” Knudson said. “It made you feel like you could do it.”
Leave a Reply