3 Bonita Unified Students Named to All-State Honor Choirs
Bonita High School choral students Gage Dowdle, Ksenia Freeborn and Nathan Kwan were selected for the California Choral Directors Association 2024 All-State Honor Choirs, continuing a Bonita Unified tradition of elevating its vocal music students to perform in prestigious regional and state ensembles. Students with the top 44 percent of audition scores were accepted from each region to perform in this year’s choirs. The students will perform with the state’s top high school vocalists at the annual California All-State Music Educators Conference, to be held in February in Sacramento. Dowdle, Freeborn and Kwan are among 10 Bonita Unified students who were also selected to the Southern California Vocal Association Honor Choirs this year.
Bonita Unified will be well-represented at the 2024 Rose Parade on New Year’s Day after four District students – three from Bonita High School and one from San Dimas High School – were selected to perform in Pasadena City College’s 2024 Tournament of Roses Honor Band. Bonita High seniors Aidan Millan (trombone), Lake Ericson (cymbals) and Tatiana Arreola-Chavez (mellophone) will be joined by San Dimas High junior Anthony Bailey (clarinet). Millan will make his third consecutive appearance in the prestigious parade, while Ericson is returning for the second year in a row. Arreola-Chavez and Bailey are both making their Tournament of Roses Parade debuts.
Arroyo High School’s Band and Color Guard students cheered in triumph as they celebrated their first ever gold medal at the Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association 5-A Division Championships held in Long Beach on Nov. 18. This accomplishment marks the first time in Arroyo High and El Monte Union band history that a school has earned a gold medal. With a score of 92.1, Arroyo was ranked first out of 17 high school teams that competed over the past seven weeks to earn a spot to the finals. Before winning the gold medal, Arroyo earned four bronze medals in the last seven years.
Fontana Unified Jurupa Hills Football Team to Play for CIF State Title
Jurupa Hills High School football will look to add to its trophy case in the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Division 4-AA State Championship Bowl Game against Soquel High School at Pasadena City College’s Robinson Stadium at 8 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 8. The Spartans have already won the CIF Southern Section Division 8 and CIF State Division 4-AA Southern California Regional championships this season. Jurupa Hills is one of 30 high school teams still playing football across California, and carry a 9-6 record into its final of the game of the year against a 12-2 Soquel squad. Robinson Stadium is located at 1570 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena.
Mountain View High School English teacher Coreen Pineda is fueled by her love for her students, working tirelessly every day to inspire them to achieve great things and have confidence in their abilities. These qualities have earned Pineda recognition by the El Monte Promise Foundation, honoring her with the Bobby Salcedo Esperanza Award for Outstanding Educators, an annual award presented to educators who are committed to student success in education. Pineda received her award at the foundation’s 20th annual Tamalada Gala on Dec. 7. As a Mountain View High alumna, Pineda was inspired by her teachers to pursue a career in education. She went on to major in English at Cal Poly Pomona and has been teaching at her alma mater for the past 23 years.
Fontana High School students will visit the Citrus Nursing Center (CNC) to spread holiday cheer to residents. Students in Fontana High’s Steelers for Christ (SFC), a religious club on campus, ballet folklórico, cheerleading, choir and nursing programs will put on performances and deliver gifts to residents. SFC has been organizing and gathering donations of stuffed animals and other gifts for CNC residents before the District heads into winter break. Fontana High’s choir and ballet folklórico students will also put on performances for the residents.
More than 580 Fontana Unified School District seniors who are set to earn the California State Seal of Biliteracy for a high level of proficiency in bilingualism and biliteracy were recognized by the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools during a recent ceremony. Seniors from all seven Fontana Unified high schools – Fontana, A.B. Miller, Henry J. Kaiser, Summit, Jurupa Hills, Citrus and Eric Birch – were honored at the ceremony and received a certificate and medal from the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools on Nov. 1. The nearly 600 Fontana Unified seniors honored this year marked a more than 200% increase over the last two years, when 180 Fontana Unified seniors were recognized at the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools event in 2021.
Pioneer High School’s Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program provides students with innovative resources, activities and opportunities to help them thrive in college and careers, earning the school revalidation as an AVID National Demonstration School. The school was first granted this status in 2017 and, after revalidation processes were halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, was redesignated for the first time this year. Only 203 schools nationwide, and 66 in California, receive this prestigious status, highlighting Pioneer High for its exemplary model of the AVID College Readiness System.
Fontana Unified School District’s tradition of sharing holiday cheer with local families will continue with its 26th annual Fontana Santas Toy Distribution. The Fontana Santas Toy Drive will culminate with a drive-thru event, to be held from 9 to 11 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 16 at the District office where families in need identified by schools will enjoy a festive holiday celebration as they receive age-appropriate gifts. Donations of unwrapped toys and gift cards can be dropped off at the Fontana School Police Department, located at the District Office, 9680 Citrus Ave., Building 9, Fontana.
Shull Elementary School students and their parents took an intergalactic journey through a solar system of literature, exploring new worlds and learning new words during the school’s inaugural Family Reading Night on Nov. 14. With its theme of “Blast Off Into Reading,” the Shull community reaffirmed its commitment to literacy, with a night of fun, food and fiction. More than 250 Shull community members attended the reading night, where students read books, took Accelerated ¬Reader quizzes, posed for photos behind a space backdrop, enjoyed snacks and listened to Shull reading ¬intervention teachers conduct “read-alouds” of their favorite books. Several BUSD schools have held similar family reading nights throughout the fall. Bonita Unified’s emphasis on boosting reading comprehension across all grade levels has earned the District a No. 1 ranking on the California Reading Coalition’s California Reading Report Card for two consecutive years.
