PTSA hosts tailgate prior to football game

Karli Wallace

Staff Writer

Mira Costa’s Parent Teacher Student Association hosted its first annual Green & Gold Tailgate event on Sept. 22, in order to bring the Manhattan Beach community together during Costa’s opening football game of the season.

The PTSA invited students, teachers, Costa alumni and other Manhattan Beach community members to attend the tailgate event. PTSA President Robin St. Germain said that the main goals for the event were to fundraise for the PTSA and boost Costa spirit among the community.

“Our biggest goal and our biggest hope was that we would boost school spirit and bring the community together for a Friday Night Lights-esque event,” St. Germain said. “Aside from fundraising, we wanted to create an event that would bring the community closer together as a whole.”

The PTSA contributes largely to annual events that occur at Costa. The PTSA finances Honor Roll lunches, after school library studying hours, student tutoring, and campus improvements, along with other academic necessities for students. Although, in the past few years, the PTSA’s funds and donations have drastically declined, St. Germain said.  

“It seems as there is more of an ask for parents and students involved with Visual and Performing Arts programs and school sports,” said St. Germain. “The delusion of the funds gets stirred in with paying Booster clubs and MBEF, and sometimes PTSA gets left in the dust in that scenario. ”

Costa alumni from the Hall of Fame were also honored during the tailgate event. Prior to the tailgate, Costa’s annual Hall of Fame event occurred during the school day. The Hall of Fame event recognized notable alumni, such as Nathan Brostrom, the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the University of California System and Carrie Nugent, an Asteroid Hunter who works with NASA.

“This was our first time hosting this event and we’re hoping that this becomes an annual tradition from here on out,” St. Germain said. “In the future, I would love to look up at kick off to see the community in the stands, wearing green and gold, waving their pom poms around and cheering on our football team and seeing the community unified.”