The San Dimas High School ProStart culinary team saw their long nights of prepping and months of hard work creating a world-class menu pay off in spectacular fashion as the five-member team was crowned the 2025 National ProStart Invitational champion, capping off the culinary program’s most successful year ever, and making District history in the process. San Dimas student chefs Kaila Khoury, Emma Johns, Emily Robertson, Kyle Yamate, and Renata Marcillo captured Bonita Unified’s first national championship, a goal that husband-and-wife duo Nick and Laurie Brandler, ProStart instructors at San Dimas and Bonita high schools, respectively, established when they first started bringing their student chefs to competition more than a decade ago.
In an age of rapid technological advances, as the risk of falling victim to a cyberattack continues to rise to unprecedented levels, San Dimas High School is training a new generation of cyber defenders and tech troubleshooters to become ethical hackers through its Information Technology (IT) and Cybersecurity class. The class, led by San Dimas High computer science teacher Leslie Leaming, is a hands-on learning experience where students rebuild and repair devices, design games, develop websites, and attempt to solve real-world cybersecurity challenges. The comprehensive course gives students an opportunity to explore lucrative careers in the IT and cybersecurity fields.
Bonita Unified high school students looking toward careers in the healthcare industry have received invaluable experience as interns, thanks to an exclusive partnership with the San Gabriel/Pomona Regional Center (SG/PRC), which provided the students access to college-level no-cost training in the psychology, nursing, and social work fields Six Bonita Unified students took advantage of the career technical education (CTE) learning opportunity, which concluded in mid-May. The inaugural SG/PRC interns are: San Dimas High seniors Jazmine Cardenas (social work) and Marlie Walker (social work), San Dimas High junior Kamryn Henderson (psychology), and Bonita High juniors Morgan Salcido (psychology), Ranin Sour (nursing), and Katherine Situ (nursing).
The San Dimas High School Color Guard took its program to new levels when it earned a gold medal at the Winter Guard Association of Southern California (WGASC) Color Guard championships in April, a stunning turnaround for a program that took a yearlong hiatus from competition only to come back stronger than ever. Performing a show inspired by the System of a Down song “Toxicity,” the San Dimas team – which featured three Lone Hill Middle School students – gave a stirring performance that earned first place in the Scholastic AAA division and gave the Color Guard its first gold medal since 2010.
Bonita Unified School District students showcased their passion and skill for math at the Los Angeles County Office of Education’s 2025 Math Field Day, earning top honors in a rigorous academic competition that challenged students to think critically, collaborate, and problem-solve. Teams of students from grades four through eight represented the District at the competition on April 26, after placing first at Bonita Unified’s own Math Field Day in March. The District’s top-performing teams advanced to the county level, where they continued weeks of training and preparation under the guidance of their coaches.
The San Dimas High School Sports Medicine team will make its fifth consecutive trip to the American Academic Competition Institute (AACI) National High School Sports Medicine Competition after turning in another stellar performance at the AACI California regionals in March, with its 20-member team placing sixth in the state for medium schools. The SDHS Sports Medicine team continues to expand under the leadership of San Dimas athletic trainer and teacher Jessica Truax, who is now in her fifth year at the school, which mirrors the AACI competition team’s five consecutive years of reaching nationals.
The San Dimas High School ProStart culinary program will represent the state of California at the National ProStart Invitational – to be held May 2-4 in Baltimore – after its five-student “Let Them Cook” culinary team plated a nearly flawless three-course meal at the California Restaurant Foundation’s CA ProStart Cup, taking the top prize and making history for the school and Bonita Unified School District.
This is the third year in a row that a Bonita Unified school has been awarded the title of “Team California,” after the Bonita High School ProStart culinary team took first place in the 2024 CA ProStart Cup and the San Dimas ProStart management team did the same in 2023.
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.
