Mira Costa drama students raise $9,000 running summer camp for kids

Seven Mira Costa High School drama students spent the week of Monday, July 13, teaching 31 younger kids to sing, dance and act at the school's third annual Mini Mustang summer camp, raising more than $9,000 for the Theatre Arts Department in the process.

The student-led camp, open to children entering kindergarten through fourth grade, ran July 13–17 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily on the Manhattan Beach campus. Drama teacher Jonathan Westerberg oversaw the program, but the seven high schoolers handled the instruction themselves, according to a first-person account published in Easy Reader News by camp instructor Landen Braunstein.

This year's theme was "Adventure Awaits." Over five days, campers learned three songs, three dances and two scenes, then performed everything in a showcase for family members on the final afternoon. Parents, siblings and grandparents packed the school's Drama Room for the show.

Incoming senior Talia Landau, who has been dancing since age three, served as a director and created original choreography for the camp. She and fellow senior Ryan McKnight co-taught "I Have a Dream" from the film "Tangled," while Landau also led "I Won't Grow Up" from the 1954 Broadway musical "Peter Pan."

"After high school I plan to pursue musical theater and I especially hope to continue working in directing, vocal directing, and choreographing," Landau said. "I really appreciate how much the Mini Mustang Camp has given me the space to explore those dreams of mine."

Incoming senior Emma Gordon taught choreography for "What Time Is It" from "High School Musical 2," with junior Emery Gregory leading vocals. Incoming senior Russell Fowler and junior McKenna West ran arts and crafts, improv exercises and wrote an original script for the showcase scenes. Fowler joined the Theatre Arts Department for the first time during the 2025–26 school year, starring as Damian in Costa's spring production of "Mean Girls."

Braunstein, also an incoming senior, directed alongside Landau and led vocal warmups throughout the week.

The $9,000 raised will go to the Theatre Arts Department to fund future productions and programming. No date has been announced for a fourth annual camp.

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