Fontana Unified School District’s plan to expand its work-based learning (WBL) opportunities shifted onto the fast track after it was one of two school districts in California and 81 nationwide to secure a semifinalist spot in the U.S. Department of Education’s Career Z Challenge, a $2.5 million multi-phase prize competition. Fontana Unified earned semifinalist honors in the inaugural Career Z Challenge for its proposal to launch the Future Shapers Academy (FSA), a systemic WBL ecosystem within its career technical education (CTE) program, in 2023-24. Through the Career Z Challenge, the federal government will provide FUSD with technical assistance, learning workshops, peer collaboration, and a monetary prize for rolling out the FSA during this school year.
Fontana Unified School District continued its seven-year streak of excellence in the annual California Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) Coalition Awards for its success in fostering positive learning environments. Twenty-nine schools earned PBIS awards, including nine platinum accolades, to set a District record in total and platinum PBIS awards received in a single year.
Thousands of Fontana Unified students across all age groups weighed numerous possibilities for their futures as they researched different college and career opportunities at the Regional College and Career Fair on Sept. 20 and the United College Action Network, Inc. (U-CAN) Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCU) Recruitment Fair on Sept. 21. The Regional College and Career Fair and U-CAN HBCU Recruitment Fair are collaborative educational efforts between multiple school districts and part of Fontana Unified School District’s efforts to boost college and career readiness by removing barriers and increasing access to information and financial support.
Approximately 35 Fontana Unified School District high school students partnered with a local general contractor, Final Touch Construction & Design, to assist with a four-day renovation project of a historic barn located in their own backyard at the Pepper Street Agricultural Museum. Students in Fontana Unified’s Career Connections program, a career technical education pathway in general construction offered at Citrus and Fontana high schools, assisted with the project, which took place from Sept. 20 to 23.
Fontana Unified Senior Secures Private Pilot’s License in CTE Pathway
A.B. Miller High School senior Johnny Hortua’s journey to realizing his dream of becoming a commercial airline pilot landed on a pivotal milestone when he secured his private pilot’s license in August. Hortua is the second student in Fontana Unified School District’s aviation career technical education pathway at A.B. Miller to earn his private pilot’s license in high school. Hortua completed flight training school, a pilot training class, airline mechanic class and attained a scholarship that covered the cost of his private pilot's license testing, which can run up to $10,000, from the Tom Wathen Center at Flabob Airport in Jurupa Valley through the A.B. Miller aviation program.
Fontana Unified School District will continue its partnership with Chaffey Joint Union High School District to cohost the annual Regional College and Career Fair and United College Action Network, Inc. (U-CAN) Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCU) Recruitment Fair, which aim to increase awareness of and access to higher education opportunities. Collectively, the events will feature representatives from more than 80 colleges and universities from across the state and country, including Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State San Bernardino, Morehouse College, Pepperdine, Occidental, Spelman College, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara and Xavier University of Louisiana. The Regional College and Career Fair is open to K-12 students and families, and the U-CAN HBCU Recruitment Fair is open to high school juniors and seniors; admission is free for both fairs.
Fontana High School public service cadets from the school’s Fire Technology, Emergency Medical Technician and Law Enforcement career technical education pathways will pay tribute to the victims and fallen heroes of 9/11, joining organizations from across the United States that are taking part in the National 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb challenge. Fontana High public service cadets will climb exactly 2,200 steps in gear – representing the 110 floors of the World Trade Center towers that New York City first responders climbed – and will raise money through donations made from students, families, staff and community sponsors. All proceeds and donations will go to the McGinnis Scholarship Foundation.
Six Fontana Unified high schools have been honored in the 2023-24 Best High Schools rankings by U.S. News & World Report, celebrating the District’s efforts to guide students into lucrative industries and continue their education at institutions such as Harvard, Yale, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Columbia and Johns Hopkins. All five FUSD comprehensive high schools received standout rankings among schools in the region and were ranked in the top 21 percent of public high schools nationwide, an achievement supported by the District’s robust high school programming and college and career readiness program. Eric Birch High School, one of the District’s two continuation schools, was also ranked for the second time in three years.
The Randall Pepper Elementary School robotics program is gearing up for a return trip to Europe after a two-student team of third-graders, Keilani Aquino and Anthony Diaz-Flores, qualified for the World Robot Olympiad (WRO) Friendship Invitational Tournament 2023, to be held Sept. 21-24 in Odense, Denmark. As members of Randall Pepper’s WRO Robotics Club, Aquino and Diaz-Flores honed their craft, learning to build and code robots during a half dozen club meetings held on Saturdays throughout the 2022-23 school year. The pair’s knowledge and teamwork paid off during the WRO U.S. Open held in June, an event featuring more than 100 teams in competition. This is the second time that Randall Pepper robotics students have qualified for the tournament, first traveling to Aarhus, Denmark to participate in the tournament in 2019.
Fontana Unified to Co-Host Regional College and Career Fair
Fontana Unified School District will join forces with Chaffey Joint Union High School District to host the annual Regional College and Career Fair from 4 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 20 at the Ontario Convention Center. The free event will introduce more than 60,000 students from the two school districts to representatives from dozens of colleges and universities across the country. Students can also explore potential career pathways, trade schools and more. The Ontario Convention Center is located at 2000 E. Convention Center Way, Ontario.
