Fontana Unified’s five comprehensive high schools have been recognized among the top-performing public high schools in the state and country for their academic success and college readiness efforts, earning inclusion in the 2022 Best High Schools rankings by U.S. News & World Report. A.B. Miller, Fontana, Henry J. Kaiser, Jurupa Hills and Summit high schools earned high rankings among approximately 1,603 high schools in California – placing among the top 30 percent of schools. Each high school celebrated a graduation rate of 94 percent or higher.
Two robotics teams from Baldwin Park Unified’s BP STEM Academy closed out their season by delivering standout performances at the VEX World Championships, held May 3 to 12 in Dallas, Texas. BP STEM Academy’s robotics teams will be recognized for their achievements during the next Baldwin Park City Council meeting on Wednesday, June 15. The teams, coaches and Academy administrators were celebrated by the BPUSD Board of Education during a regular board meeting on May 24. More than 500 teams qualified for the VEX World Championship Middle School category, with each team divided into seven divisions, creating an average of 73 teams per division.
A select group of Ramona Middle School eighth-grade students have demonstrated their leadership capabilities while helping their sixth-grade classmates acclimate to a new school through the Where Everybody Belongs (WEB) program, an elective that eases the transition from elementary school to middle school. Whether leading a Friday lunchtime dance party, organizing a game of Knockout, or posting inspirational messages around campus such as “Be Kind” and “Be the Light,” Ramona WEB mentors dedicate themselves to ensuring that incoming students receive the support and resources they need to navigate their way through a new school system with more teachers, classes, students, and academic and social responsibilities.
A.B. Miller High School Class of 2022 graduate Carolina Gonzalez Ceja is no longer a Fontana Unified student, but she will continue to represent her alma mater in the halls of Congress after her artwork was voted as the California 35th Congressional District’s winning entry in the 2022 Congressional Art Competition. Gonzalez Ceja’s oil painting, “The Mirror That Stings,” will be included in an exhibit housed at the U.S. Capitol building, along with artwork from every congressional district in the United States, for the next year.
Baldwin Park Unified Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) elementary school students dressed as historical figures from the past and present during end-of-the-year events that showcased the in-depth extracurricular instruction the District’s GATE program provides to its advanced students. Encouraged to take a deeper look into the creative process of great minds who have made an impact on society, GATE students held European-style salons in costume, mingling together and sharing stories, to cap a school year in which their thirst for knowledge allowed them to expand their academic boundaries. More than 800 students from grades three to eight make up Baldwin Park Unified’s GATE program, which emphasizes scholarly behaviors such as knowledgeability, inquiry, intellectual risk-taking and being open-minded.
Lynwood Unified School District will celebrate the graduating Class of 2022 with commencement ceremonies for Vista High School on Monday, June 13, Lynwood High School on Tuesday, June 14, and Firebaugh High School on Wednesday, June 15. All three ceremonies will begin at 6 p.m. and be held at Lynwood Unified Stadium, 12124 Bullis Rd., Lynwood. The Lynwood Community Adult School will hold its commencement ceremony at 6 p.m. on Friday, June 10, at the Lynwood High School Gym, also located at 12124 Bullis Rd., Lynwood.
Fontana High School’s Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) program achieved a 97 percent pass rate for the state board exam during the 2021-22 school year, an accomplishment that qualifies students to join the workforce as they pursue higher education and advanced career opportunities in the medical field. Offered through the Patient Care career technical education pathway at FOHI, the program provides hands-on training at nursing facilities, offers the opportunity to earn credit at Chaffey College, and prepares students to earn state certification. Many Class of 2022 graduates will further their education by attending college in the fall, building on the skills they learned in the CNA program as they pursue a variety of careers in medicine.
South Hills High School Class of 2022 graduate and culinary enthusiast Nathan Leao discovered he had a talent for cooking after enrolling in the school’s Culinary Arts Specialty Pathway, a course that put him on the road to earn a $2,500 cash scholarship from the Careers through Culinary Arts (C-CAP) program. Leao, who had no experience in the kitchen prior to taking the culinary classes, was awarded the scholarship after participating in a regional C-CAP competition in March.
In front of adoring crowds of parents, families, teachers, staff and community members, El Monte Union High School District celebrated more than 1,850 Class of 2022 graduates from Arroyo, El Monte, Mountain View, South El Monte, Rosemead and Fernando R. Ledesma high schools, who proudly accepted their diplomas during commencement ceremonies held on June 2. The ceremonies featured choir, orchestra and band performances, profound speeches and streamer cannons. El Monte Union graduates will go on to four-year universities such as Cornell, Georgetown, Stanford and UCLA in the fall.
The stands at Covina District Field were packed with family and friends as Covina-Valley Unified School District celebrated more than 1,100 Class of 2022 graduates from Northview, Covina, South Hills and Fairvalley high schools with rousing music, speeches, streamers and fanfare during commencement ceremonies for the, held May 31, June 1 and June 2. The combined District class boasted a total of 31 valedictorians with graduates going on to higher education at four-year universities including the University of California, Berkeley, Loyola Marymount University and the University of Southern California.
