FONTANA, CA – Class of 2020 graduates from A.B. Miller High School’s Conservatory of Dance are receiving national recognition for their excellence – as students and artists – from the National Honor Society for Dance Arts (NHSDA).

Every Class of 2020 graduate from A.B. Miller High School’s Conservatory of Dance received honors or elevated honors status from the NHSDA, celebrating their outstanding artistic merit, leadership and academic achievement.

Four A.B. Miller High School graduates with the highest honors – Melanie Chavez Ruiz, Erica Gasca, Zea Negrete and Steven Sayson – were featured in the NHSDA Senior Yearbook alongside the top high school dance students in the country.

“The Class of 2020 is full of remarkable students, and the talented members of the A.B. Miller Conservatory of Dance are no exception,” Fontana Unified Superintendent Randal S. Bassett said. “I congratulate our students on their well-deserved recognition and wish them all the best as they pursue academic degrees and professional opportunities.”

NHSDA is a program of the National Dance Education Organization and recognizes the achievements of students studying dance in public and private K-12 schools. To be inducted into the NHSDA Secondary Program, students must maintain a high GPA and accumulate points based on dance activities, such as dance classes, rehearsals, performances, research, workshops or community service activities. Students must also demonstrate collaboration, motivation and leadership across multiple aspects of dance.

The A.B. Miller Conservatory of Dance offers students a specialized dance education within a public-school setting. Founded in 2009, the conservatory grew from a high school dance program to the only dance conservatory of its kind in the Inland Empire. The conservatory provides students with the skills to earn admission to the college or university dance programs of their choice or to enter the dance profession immediately following high school.

The A.B. Miller Conservatory of Dance has a 100 percent college admission rate, with students attending prestigious institutions across the country. Conservatory graduates have become professional dancers with the Inland Pacific Ballet, Shen Wei Dance Arts and Intersect Dance Theater; others are pursuing dance-related careers in physical therapy, nutrition and education.