Gladstone Elementary has earned its first-ever California Distinguished School recognition from the California Department of Education (CDE), marking the 21st time in Bonita Unified history a District school has received the prestigious honor for closing the achievement gap and demonstrating exceptional student performance. This year, 336 elementary schools received the California Distinguished School award, putting the Griffins in the top 6% of elementary schools in the state. The CDE uses multiple metrics to select California Distinguished Schools each year, such as chronic absenteeism, suspension rates, and scores in English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics, as measured on the California School Dashboard.
Bonita Unified School District continues to distinguish itself as one of California’s top-performing districts, with all 10 of its elementary and middle schools ranking in the top 32 percent of schools statewide in U.S. News & World Report’s 2025 Best K-8 Schools list. The Best K-8 Schools rankings are based on U.S. Department of Education data from more than 79,000 public schools nationwide. The rankings evaluate performance in mathematics and reading/language arts, considering student background and achievement. Ties in overall scores were broken by student-teacher ratios. Each of Bonita’s eight elementary schools – Allen Avenue, Ekstrand, Gladstone, Grace Miller, La Verne Heights, Oak Mesa, Roynon, and Shull – placed in the top 32% of 8,773 elementary schools in California. Grace Miller, Roynon, and Oak Mesa elementary schools ranked in the top 15%, and Shull placed among the top 4%. In the middle school rankings, Lone Hill Middle School and Ramona Middle School placed in the top 21% and 11%, respectively, of California’s 7,160 middle schools.
Three Bonita Unified employees, known for guiding students in the classroom, supporting athletes on the field, and cultivating creative environments, were celebrated as the District’s 2025 Employees of the Year for their lasting impact across the District and their school communities during the Board of Education’s April 9 meeting. Bonita High School teacher, athletic director, and coach Darren Baumunk was honored as the District’s 2025 Certificated Employee of the Year; Mary Udria, a certified occupational therapy assistant in Specialized Services, was named as the Classified Employee of the Year; and Bonita Center for the Arts theater manager Melissa Stone received the Management Employee of the Year award.
Now in her 12th year, Ramona Middle School music teacher Caitlin Shaw has provided the crucial link between elementary school novice singers and Bonita High School’s prestigious Concert Choir and Chamber Singers. With more than 270 students in her program, Shaw teaches singers how to harmonize, read music, and prepare for auditions and live performances. Channeling Shaw’s mentorship and guidance, 11 Ramona music students, along with three Bonita High School freshmen, have been selected to join the Southern California Vocal Association’s (SCVA) 2025 Junior High Honor Choir, underscoring the hard work and dedication that epitomize Bonita Unified’s successful and award-winning Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) programs. Ramona placed more students in the honor choir than any other Southern California school. The SCVA Junior High Honor Choir 2025 spring performance will be held at 6 p.m. on Saturday, May 3 at Portola High School in Irvine.
The Ramona Middle School Drama Society is celebrating another season of outstanding performances, earning awards and accolades at prestigious theater festivals across California in February, then returning home to stage its showstopping annual musical, “Shrek Jr.” for three performances, including a sold-out, standing-room-only show on the final night. A touring group of 24 Ramona Drama Society students traveled to Sacramento for the 2025 Junior Theatre Festival – the world’s biggest theatre festival – featuring drama programs from across the United States, as well as Canada, New Zealand, South Korea, China, and Australia. Ramona Drama Society members performed a 15-minute section from their 2024 production of “Annie, Jr.,” earning an exclusive Excellence in Ensemble award, presented to only five groups in the 55-team field. Not to be outdone, a group of 11 Ramona Drama Society students attended the Junior Thespian Festival at the Orange County School of the Arts, with seven students competing in the Solo Musical or Duet Musical categories. Ramona eighth-graders Lillian Krane and Tia Kaldas received “Superior” rankings and Judges Choice Awards in the Duet Musical category, while eighth-grader Peyton Lokar received a “Superior” ranking in the Solo Musical category.
Energized by the pioneering legacy of Black and African American artists, San Dimas High School art students have created work in a diverse range of styles, themes, media, and cultural influences, assembling them for the exhibit, “Inspired by Black: Student Reflections on African American Artistry,” currently on display at the Bonita Center for the Arts (BCA). Curated by San Dimas High visual and performing arts chair and art teacher Dominic Black, the exhibit features drawings, paintings, sculptures, and mixed media pieces from dozens of art students, who engage and reflect on the work of Black or African American historic and contemporary artists.
Bonita High School’s Chamber Singers became the first choir in Bonita Unified School District history to perform at the California All-State Music Educators Conference (CASMEC), a selection reserved for the most elite choirs in the state. Each year, the California Music Educators Association (CMEA) and California Choral Directors Association (CCDA) select choirs from across the state to perform at CASMEC after a rigorous audition process. CMEA hosts CASMEC for music educators including professionals in all musical disciplines, from choir and orchestra, spanning from elementary to the college level.
Bonita High School students who want to augment their creative design talents with handiwork skills are taking advantage of the school’s longtime jewelry career technical education (CTE) courses, which teach them the ABCs of manufacturing jewelry while also giving them the opportunity to make their own accessories as they learn the meticulous and precise art. Bonita High’s jewelry pathway consists of two elective classes: a beginning class that acquaints students with the tools and methods used to make handcrafted jewelry, and an advanced class that allows students to take their skills to the next level and can be taken more than once for credit. The classes are limited to juniors and seniors for safety reasons.
As curtains rose on the 19th annual Bonita Unified Spelling Bee, 53 elementary and middle school students stepped into the Bonita Center for the Arts, ready to battle it out in a war of words on Feb. 3. With vowels and consonants at the ready, students went up one by one, with a cash prize and yearlong bragging rights on the line. The competition unfolded over several rounds and students showcased their skills under pressure as the field narrowed with each passing word. In the end, Gladstone Elementary fifth-grader Iresh Oswal claimed first place, securing a $250 cash prize for himself and an additional $250 for his school’s library. Alex Yang of Shull Elementary finished in second place, followed by Kamsiyochukwu Aniwigbo of Grace Miller Elementary in third.
San Dimas High School senior Jazmine Cardenas is no stranger to advocacy. Through her involvement as a member of the UNICEF National Youth Council, the YWCA San Gabriel Valley and the Harvard Youth Corps, Cardenas has fought for children’s rights and victims of domestic violence, and helped to unite students from different cultural backgrounds. Cardenas, who has a 4.17 GPA and has taken six Advanced Placement courses and nine dual enrollment college courses, will take her love for policy-making to New York City after being accepted into Columbia University’s exclusive Barnard College, which has an acceptance rate of less than 9%. Cardenas plans to major in political science with a concentration on international relations and a minor in public policy.
