Some 10,000 students returned to Bonita Unified School District campuses for the start of the 2024-25 school year on Aug. 19, which saw transitional kindergarten students sharing tearful hugs with their parents as they began their educational journeys and seniors taking selfies and watching the sun rise together on their final first day of high school. Teachers at Ekstrand, La Verne Heights, and Shull elementary schools welcomed a new class of transitional kindergartners with enthusiastic hugs and high fives, while returning students wasted no time in greeting each other and delivering flower and candy gifts to their new teachers. At Bonita High School, a large contingent from its Class of 2025 assembled bright and early for the school’s annual Senior Sunrise celebration, held at Glenn Davis Stadium. Under a scoreboard displaying '2025,' friends reconnected, spread out on blankets, listened to music, and played games, all while catching the spirit for their final year of high school.
Bonita Unified students looking to get a head start on college and career have taken advantage of several summer workshops and programs designed to spark interest in career technical education (CTE) fields, including industrial and manufacturing engineering, auto repair, architecture, theater, interior design, welding, mentoring, and waste management.
Cal Poly Pomona, Citrus College, Mt. SAC and the Claremont Colleges are among the local campuses providing guidance and instructors to assist students in finding their passion in diverse fields that can lead to lucrative careers. More than 100 BUSD students participated in programs over the summer.
When Bonita High School rising junior Abigail Park was summoned to the BUSD District Office with her father, she thought she was being nominated for an extracurricular award. Instead, Park was greeted by College Board representatives, who surprised her with a $40,000 scholarship on July 25, as part of its BigFuture college and career planning campaign. High school students across the country are encouraged to go online and complete a series of quizzes and lists, with each student entry qualifying them to earn a scholarship. Two students are selected each month at random to receive a $40,000 scholarship. Park is active in Bonita’s hip-hop club, plays clarinet in the BHS band, and is president and co-founder of Bonita High’s Eco Club.
Two Bonita Unified ProStart culinary students demonstrated their prowess in the kitchen, whipping up gastronomic delights for attendees of the California Restaurant Foundation’s annual Culinary Clash fundraiser and walking away with top prizes during the event, which raised more than $90,000 for culinary arts programs in California public high schools. Bonita High School rising senior Charli Padilla won the Golden Plate Award for best presentation and San Dimas High School Class of 2024 graduate Kiana Conway won the Culinary Perfect Puree Champ Award for best use of a sponsor product. This is the second consecutive year that Bonita Unified ProStart students have taken home top awards at the Culinary Clash, held this year on June 7 at the Coca-Cola headquarters in Irvine.
Bonita Unified was recognized for the second year in a row as a San Gabriel Valley “Favorite School District” in the Southern California News Group 2024 Readers' Choice Awards, celebrating the District’s commitment to fostering students’ holistic growth through a high-quality education. Bonita Unified earned several state and national academic accolades in the 2023-24 school year, including a National Blue Ribbon School, a 2024 Model Continuation High School, and a 2024 California Distinguished School.
San Dimas High School advanced art students spent months learning about themselves as individuals and as artists as they created artworks centered on historical figures for the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes (LMC) ninth annual ARTEFFECT art competition. Class of 2024 graduate Sophia Cabalfin and rising senior Vanessa Hoyt stood out among hundreds of submissions for their creations and were recognized on May 29 in front of classmates and family, as well as leaders from LMC Unsung Heroes and ARTEFFECT, who hosted the surprise visit over Zoom.
Bonita Unified Appoints New Principals, Senior Director for 2024-25
Bonita Unified School District announced four new administrators who will step into new roles or join the District for the 2024-25 school year during the June 12 Board of Education meeting. Phil Heng will serve as Gladstone Elementary School’s principal in 2024-25 after serving as assistant principal at San Dimas High for three years; April Leon joins Roynon Elementary as its principal after five years in the role at Covina-Valley Unified School District; and Christine Wilson will serve as Shull Elementary’s principal following five years as a school administrator in Chino Valley Unified School District. Jessicka Mears comes to Bonita Unified as the new senior director of specialized services after serving as a special education administrator in Compton Unified School District.
Bonita High School’s ProStart culinary team wrapped up their most successful year in spectacular fashion, earning a 10th-place finish in their first-ever appearance as Team California during the National ProStart Invitational, held this spring at the Marriott Baltimore Waterfront Hotel. The five-student team, led by captain Charli Padilla, team manager Laura Mangiafreno, and team members Nicolas Caballero, Cameron Turoci and Michael Vera, wowed the judges with a three-course gourmet meal consisting of raviolo doppio, pan-seared elk tenderloin and a slice of entremet layer cake, propelling the team to a top-10 finish, the highest placement for a California team in many years.
Bonita Unified Elementary Students Bury Time Capsule for 2044
La Verne Heights Elementary School’s fifth-grade class and Associated Student Body celebrated the end of a memorable school year together by creating a time capsule, which was buried on campus on May 31. The time capsule included letters to future students, a yearbook, an aerial photograph of the school, and student-suggested items that are representative of 2024, such as a pair of Crocs, Stanley beverage cups, and Takis. La Verne Heights Elementary will invites its current families to return in 20 years to open the time capsule.
