By Beckette Navarrette
Staff Writer
Eighth graders and their parents attended Mira Costa High School on Oct 13 and 16 for a chance to see all the school has to offer.
8th grade visits happen every year as a way to show off Costa’s many clubs and cliques. Costa uses this day to emphasize how they offer something for everyone, so that according to Vice Principal Deborah Hofreiter, no matter if you’re into art, sports, or even television, there will be a place to practice your passion.
“Finding your ‘neighborhood’ in Costa is a way to become comfortable very quickly.” Hofreiter said, “‘Neighborhood’ being the club, sport, or visual or performing art, or MUN that the students enjoy.”
Parents of the 8th graders were invited to a program on the 13th before they visited the campus on the 16th. According to Hofreiter, this allowed the parent to have an idea of what extracurricular programs Costa offers so that they can more easily guide their children to interesting presentations on the 16th.
“This [program’s purpose] again is [meant] to acquaint the parents with the Costa programs, sports, and activities,” Hofreiter said. “Then, they can talk to their kids about what they have seen and guide them to visit what interests them the following Friday.”
The presentations will cover Mira Costa’s electives, sports, extracurricular programs, as well as answer any questions about them. A Costa Parent committee has decided to try and help make the presentations smoother by putting together a program brochure.
“A Costa parent committee is putting together a handout of possible programs, sports, activities and resources for parents to get as many questions answered as possible,” Hofreiter said.
This is the first year that the 8th graders will be going to Mira Costa for the presentation.
The presentations used to be held at MBMS, but Costa staff members decided they wanted to introduce the 8th graders to the Costa campus so they could get over their initial fears of going to a new school.
“I remember when I visited the high school. Just by sheer size, I immediately felt like an outlier,” ASB President Hannah Watkins said. “I was still very much so intimidated by the high school.”
Costa is getting rid of the ASB tour guides as well. This is because Costa wanted to give students more time to visit programs they are really interested in.
“This year, the 8th graders will be touring the campus on their own after school to see the programs and activities.” Hofreiter said. “They can then ask questions about the programs and really visit places of their interest more in depth than on the long tour during the school day.”
Since Asb tour guides have been removed from the program, many students, such as Watkins, are doing speeches as a way to replace the student-to-student dialogue the tour guides once provided.
“Since I know what it was like to be in their shoes, I feel that I can do a good job of connecting with them and getting them excited rather than nervous for high school.” Watkins said.
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