Sleigh bells will be ringing on Christmas Eve for the Bonita High School Chamber Singers as they deck the halls for the 66th Annual L.A. County Holiday Celebration, to be held at The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, a festive night that showcases the artistry, talent, and cultural traditions of nearly two dozen Southern California-based artists at the storied concert venue. Bonita’s 32-member Chamber Singers will share the stage with a diverse cross-section of L.A. County’s finest performance acts, including singers, dancers, puppeteers, and brass bands. Each act will perform for five minutes during a live in-person show that will be broadcast live on PBS SoCal on Wednesday, Dec. 24 from 3 to 6 p.m. The Chamber Singers will perform during between 5 to 6 p.m.
Upland High School celebrated student innovation during its annual Science Fair on Dec. 11, where nearly 100 students presented 67 imaginative, research-driven projects. Entries spanned seven scientific categories, giving students the opportunity to showcase their creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills to judges, staff, and peers. The Science Fair concluded with an evening Open House, where families viewed standout projects and joined the celebration of student achievement during an awards ceremony. In addition, UHS hosted a Districtwide Computer Science Family Night that offered hands-on activities, student demonstrations, and a Careers in Computer Science panel.
Fontana High School’s General Construction Career Technical Education (CTE) pathway students brought their craftsmanship, creativity, and teamwork to the community this season by designing and building a parade float that featured Board of Education members, student board representatives, and Fontana Unified’s Superintendent Miki R. Inbody during the 2025 Fontana Christmas Parade on Dec. 13. The team consisted of 14 students who used a full range of construction techniques they learned in the pathway, transforming raw materials into a polished centerpiece for one of the city’s signature annual events. The float, themed “Believe in the Magic of Learning,” features an eight-seat platform, blending Christmas elements with academic inspiration, including an oversized hand-built book displaying the float’s theme.
La Serna High School seniors posed for photos, danced to their favorite tunes, showed off Lancer swag, and proudly placed “I Applied” stickers on a bulletin board after completing a college application to a UC, Cal State, private, or community college - or a job application - during the school’s inaugural Future Ready Celebration Day on Dec. 4. The Celebration Day lunchtime festivities, which were attended by 225 seniors, are the second part of La Serna’s recently-launched Future Ready initiative, a schoolwide effort to educate and encourage seniors to take control of their post-secondary plans, joining Whittier High School, which launched its own Future Ready program in October.
Eight Bonita Unified educators will bring hands-on, play-based classroom projects to life after receiving more than $3,300 in mini-grants from the Rotary Club of La Verne, which continued its tradition of supporting innovation across the District during the Dec. 3 Board of Education meeting. The service organization awarded individual grants ranging from $150 to $500, providing teachers with resources that strengthen academic engagement, build developmental skills, and enrich the learning environment for students across grade levels.
Rene Romero, an International Baccalaureate (IB) Language and Literature teacher at South Hills High School, has been named one of only five 2026 California Teachers of the Year, earning the honor for more than two decades of work empowering students to feel confident, capable, and prepared to pursue their goals. As a California Teacher of the Year, Romero now serves as an ambassador for education, demonstrating exemplary teaching, engaging with leaders in Sacramento, and promoting innovative practices that motivate and inspire both current and future educators.
Whittier Union High School District is proving to be a front-runner in ensuring student success, with 2024-25 California School Dashboard data ranking the District as one of the top four districts in the state, successfully serving a majority Latino, Latinx, Hispanic, and socioeconomically disadvantaged community. There are 995 districts in the state with Dashboard results. The Dashboard is a color-coded system created by the California Department of Education to help districts track year-to-year progress in key areas of growth. It allows districts to measure successes and identify areas for improvement in the year ahead. Measured areas include four-year graduation rates, suspension rates, attendance rates, and more.
South Orange County Community College District (SOCCCD) is elevating its culture by bringing Caring Campus to the district level, creating a bridge between District Services and the district’s two community colleges, Saddleback College and Irvine Valley College, and fostering a strong partnership that will lead to a fully realized Caring District. As only the second district office to implement Caring Campus in the nation, SOCCCD will ensure care and support flow from District Services to both the colleges and students. This district-level implementation aligns with the district’s strategic plan, approved in June 2026, which calls for cultivating a positive culture and climate for students and employees.
Monica Jauregui, an English Language Development (ELD) teacher at Harry S. Truman Middle School, shares a similar background with her students: her parents immigrated to the United States when they were in grade school, not knowing any English, and Jauregui herself was an English learner. Her experiences fuel her to ensure students of all backgrounds can thrive, leading her to take on multiple roles as an English Language Learner (ELL) monitor and Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) Excel teacher.
Fontana High School’s (FOHI) General Construction Career Technical Education (CTE) Pathway students will debut their custom-built float “Believe in the Magic of Learning” for the 2025 “I Believe in Magic” Fontana Christmas Parade. Students spent more than a month planning, designing, and constructing the float as part of their hands-on CTE coursework. District administrators, Board of Education members, and student board representatives will ride the float during the parade.
