Pacific Coast Academy

Pacific Coast Academy

Type:	College preparatory boarding school
Dean:	Dean Rivers (until 2009) Dean Taylor (temporary)
Grades:	5-8 (lower school) 9-12 (upper school)
Location:	Malibu, California
Colors:	Blue/Purple
Mascot:	Stingray
Status:	Closed Down

Pacific Coast Academy (more commonly abbreviated and referred to as "PCA" for short) is a now closed educational institution that serves as the main setting of Zoey 101. It's where all of the main characters of the show attend school.

PCA's location is confirmed to be somewhere in Southern California -- it most likely is somewhere in the Malibu-area, especially since the first two seasons of the show were shot on-location at Pepperdine University, which is in Malibu, California. When PCA was first started, it was originally a boys-only school—however, sometime before the start of the series, they started enrolling female students alongside male students, thus making it a coed school.

It is a modern school, with brightly colored lounges, rooms, and many recreational activities. In the pilot episode, it is revealed that it has some of the best teachers in the country. Dean Rivers is the current head of PCA and he also happens to be a former student at the school (back when it was a boys-only school). There are nine known housing dorms called halls for students to live in with more than one hundred rooms in each: Fulton Hall, Butler Hall, Dillard Hall, Brenner Hall, Maxwell Hall, Greenlaw Hall, Schneider Hall, Bradford Hall, and Rigby Hall. Each room at PCA can house up to at least three people.

It also includes the Harry Schneider Building, which houses the economics room, chemistry room, history room, math room, the housing office, and the Dean's office. The campus also has a cafe, a movie theater, a Japanese restaurant, and a number of coffee carts.

List of PCA Staff and Students[]

Faculty and staff[]

School President[]

Mr. Bradford

Dean[]

Dean Rivers
Dean Taylor (temporary replacement for Dean Rivers)

Dorm Advisors[]

Coco Wexler
Unnamed boys' dorm advisor

Teachers[]

Mr. Thatcher
Mr. Kirby
Mr. Callahan (English)
Ms. Donovan
Ms. Dangle (psychology)
Mr. Fletcher (drama)
Mr. Bender (media)
Coach Phelps (physical education)
Mr. Billiam, also Troop Master Kennedy on weekends (History)

Nurses[]

Former students of PCA[]

Classes[]

Curriculum[]

Chemistry (eleventh)
Biology (tenth)
Physics (twelfth)
History
Economics (eighth grade)
Algebra
Geometry
Trigonometry
Spanish
French
English
Psychology
Media
Lower school science (fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grades)

Sports[]

Wrestling
Basketball
Tennis
Yoga
Disc Golf
Football
Track
Rugby
Hockey
Swimming
Soccer
Golf
Volleyball
Baseball
Softball

Merchandise[]

PCA has several types of merchandise that can be purchased. This merchandise is sold at the PCA Store and includes shirts, jackets, hoodies, backpacks, and school supplies.

PCA News[]

Main article: PCA News

PCA has its own news facility reported by Jeremiah Trottman, who reports on the happenings that occur in the day-to-day life of the school. The news also covers sporting events, where Jeremiah is paired with Dooley.

School History[]

1912-1923: Sometime between this time period, Clarence G. Bradford founded Pacific Coast Academy, an all-boys boarding school near the coast of Malibu, California.
2004-2005: Before the start of the second semester of the 2004-2005 school, year, PCA became a coed school and allowed girls to enroll. This decision was introduced by the wife of Mr. Bradford, the president of the school and the son of Clarence G. Bradford.
2009: After numerous complaints from parents regarding low education standards, the California State Board of Education launched an investigation into Pacific Coast Academy. This investigation revealed that PCA wasn't even an accredited school, and that Dean Rivers was embezzling and gambling tuition money. After Zoey Brooks, her friends, and the rest of her grade (the class of 2009) graduated, the school was shut down.

References in other Dan Schneider shows[]

When Stacey Dillsen guest starred in an iCarly.com (the official website for iCarly) video, she mentioned that she was a recent graduate of Pacific Coast Academy.
In one of the captions for a picture on TheSlap.com (the official website for Victorious) Festus, the manager of "The Grub Truck" (a food truck in Victorious) mentions that he wants to have a food truck on the PCA-campus.
Stacey Dillsen mentions that she graduated from Pacific Coast Academy several years ago in the Sam and Cat episode #MadAboutShoe. The school's website is also visible on a PearBook in one scene of the episode.
Coco confirms in Sam and Cat she still works at PCA, while all of the main characters have obviously graduated and left the school by now.
- This contradicts the Zoey 102 reboot movie, which stated that PCA closed down after 2009.
In the Henry Danger episode "Text, Lies & Video", Charlotte wears a PCA shirt.

Dorms[]

Fulton Hall
Butler Hall
Dillard Hall
Brenner Hall
Maxwell Hall
Rigby Hall
Greenlaw Hall
Schneider Hall
Bradford Hall
Several unknown/unnamed halls

Trivia[]

The elementary (5th-grade) and middle school (6th to 8th-grade) is referred to as the "lower school" while the high school (9th to 12th-grade) is referred to as the "upper school."
PCA is revealed to be a private school, because according to Lola in Miss PCA, students' families have to pay for tuition in order to attend the school. Lola also claims that while the tuition at PCA is kind of expensive, it's not as expensive as the average college tuition.
- While it's never said how much tuition at PCA is, boarding school tuition in general is typically much more expensive than the average tuition for a day school, especially since boarding school tuition typically also covers room-and-board. Due to PCA functioning solely as a boarding school along with many amenities like modern facilities, lounges, and dorms with an ocean view, tuition would most likely be over 50,000 per year. For comparison, the average boarding school tuition ranges from $25,000 to $60,000 per year, and tuition for Pepperdine University (the filming location/real world counterpart of Zoey 101's PCA) is $85,202, including tuition fees and room-and-board fees.

The school appears to function solely as a boarding school (meaning that all students live on-campus when school is in session). While there probably are some students who live close enough to the school where they can at least go back home on the weekends, there don't appear to be any day-students. In real life, many boarding schools also function as day schools.

As revealed in Defending Dustin, the school has a strict "no pets on campus" policy.
- Despite this, Quinn is known to have at least two pets on campus, Marvin (a snake) and Herman (a tarantula) suggesting the rule only applies to certain types of animals.
In Prank Week, it's revealed by Mr. Bradford (the son of PCA's founder and the president of the school) that it was apparently his wife's idea to start enrolling female students alongside male students at PCA, ultimately making it a coed school.
- It is also revealed in this episode that the school founder's full name is Clarence G. Bradford, as seen on the statue that the gang defaced for Prank Week.
Little Beach Party and Spring Break-Up are the only episodes that mainly takes place outside of PCA.
There is a real charter school in Poway, California (coincidentally) named Pacific Coast Academy akin to the one in the Zoey 101 series.
PCA's (fictional) address is 1379 Pacific Coast Boulevard, Malibu, CA 90263.
- The address for Pepperdine University, the school where Zoey 101 was filmed for its first two seasons, is 24255 Pacific Coast Hwy, Malibu, CA 90263.
In the new Zoey 102 film, it is revealed that Zoey, Logan, Quinn, Chase, and everyone else in the same grade were the last ones to attend PCA as the school ended up being shut down due to multiple complaints from parents who insisted the education standards were low which caused the state to launch an investigation, revealing that the school wasn't even accredited and Dean Rivers was stealing student's tuition money and gambling it away at Morongo Resort & Casino according to Stacey.
California State University, Channel Islands in nearby Camarillo, and Loyola Marymount University in nearby Playa Vista were at one point considered location sets before Pepperdine University was chosen as the approved campus location.
In the original pilot script, PCA was originally called "Briardale".
Pacific Coast Academy (PCA) is a reference to the location of Pepperdine University in Los Angeles located along the Pacific Coast Highway and the Malibu pacific coastline.