Less than a year after relaunching its intramural sports program, Eric Birch High School’s boys basketball team is celebrating its first championship as a member of the Inland Empire Alternative School League. The 13-member team, which includes one female player, won the title after defeating Sierra High School, 61-56, on March 16. The basketball triumph follows a third-place finish by Birch’s girls volleyball team during the fall semester. The option for credit-deficient students to participate in sports has provided a more inclusive and welcoming atmosphere on the Birch campus, increasing the students’ motivation to excel in the classroom and get back on track to graduate.
Almeria Middle School special education teachers Michelle Goodrow and Kitzia Jackson were honored with a Certificate of Recognition by State Sen. Connie Leyva for their dedication and hard work helping students with moderate or severe disabilities develop the skills they need to lead healthy, independent lives, during a ceremony held March 13 in front of family, friends and special education students. Goodrow and Jackson also received Excellence in Education certificates from Almeria Principal Felix Jones.
Fontana High School Bio Animatronic and Neuro Prosthetic students got a glimpse of what is possible when imagination meets science on March 13 after receiving a visit from a children’s author whose life changed when animatronics specialists at Garner Holt Productions created a realistic, fully functional prosthetic arm for her. June Durr, a former San Bernardino-based marketing consultant, told her story accompanied by Garner Holt, the founder of the animatronics firm, relaying how a chance visit to the studio 19 years ago netted her a new arm and a new lease on life. Holt designed the arm for Durr in 2003, using techniques that FOHI students are currently learning in their bio animatronics lab.
Fontana Unified School District will transition from an “at-large” to by-trustee area elections system for the Board of Education in November 2022, following the adoption of Resolution No. 22-05 and the selection of a final trustee map and sequence of elections during the March 9 Board meeting. The Board of Education adopted Scenario 6 – a map submitted by a group of Fontana citizens that had gained the most public support – following a series of public hearings that solicited input from the community. The Board also approved Trustee Areas 1, 2 and 5 to be included in the 2022 election and for Trustee Areas 3 and 4 to be elected in 2024.
Motivational speaker and children’s author June Durr will address Fontana High School Bio Animatronic and Neuro Prosthetics students about receiving a prosthetic arm custom-made by Garner Holt Productions studio artists. In 2015, Garner Holt created a new prosthetic arm for Durr; dubbed ‘Lefty,’ the arm is made entirely out of proprietary silicone, is layered and textured to look realistic, has a rotating wrist, flesh tones and freckles, and can lock in 11 different positions. After her talk, Durr will conduct a Q&A with FOHI students.
Two Fontana Unified scholar-athletes will take their games to the next level after signing letters of intent to play college ball with Western Athletic Conference universities. Jurupa Hills High School senior Antonio Mayes signed with Dixie State University in St. George, Utah to play football; Mayes, a two-time All-League defensive back for the Spartan football team, is fulfilling a dream he has had since he began playing football at the age of five. Summit High School senior Mikayla O’Brien signed with Cal Baptist University in Riverside to play soccer, capping a prep career that saw her achieve All-League three times and lead her team to the quarterfinals of the CIF Division VI Southern Section playoffs during 2020-21.
Southridge Tech Middle School and Wayne Ruble Middle School have been recognized in the 2022 California Schools to Watch program, celebrating their continued success in providing positive learning environments that boost student achievement and foster college and career readiness. Southridge Tech and Wayne Ruble middle schools are among 31 high-performing California middle schools to be re-designated as Schools to Watch this year. First designated in 2019, both schools were re-evaluated to retain the designation – a process that occurs every three years.
At an age when many of his classmates are learning to drive a car, Henry J. Kaiser High School senior Amitoj Lobana will be packing a bag filled with science books and cold-weather gear in preparation for the next step in his academic journey after receiving a full-ride scholarship to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For the 16-year-old Lobana, who skipped ahead two grade levels prior to entering Kaiser High and has a 4.95 GPA, it will be an opportunity to pursue his twin passions: studying computer science and working to bring equity in education and a better quality of life to underrepresented communities.
Fontana High School Class of 2015 graduate Carlos Galván remembers the day his Advanced Placement Chemistry teacher, Nina Rodriguez, told him he should consider attending a university and majoring in chemistry. For Galván, this was the first time his work was singled out for praise, motivating him to push himself to achieve at a high academic level. Today, Galván is a doctoral candidate in the UCLA Molecular Biology Interdepartmental Doctoral Program (MBIDP) and a UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center trainee, conducting research on skin cancer. As a first-generation college student, Galván is following a tradition of hard work and dedication rooted in his family, which has resided in Fontana for generations.
Summit High School’s annual yearbook, Meraki, has been selected as a featured national sample by the yearbook publisher Balfour, which will employ samples of the Summit High annual at yearbook training workshops across the country. Less than three percent of yearbooks published by Balfour each year are selected as national samples. The recognition comes just two years after the debut of Meraki, which published its first edition during the 2019-20 school year. The 2022 edition of Meraki will be the first to be distributed in-person to students at the end of the year.
