Taking their first steps toward a lucrative career in aviation, 16 A.B. Miller High School students received certificates of completion after finishing a 10-week training course designed to inspire careers as commercial airline pilots. Shades of Blue, a free course held on Saturdays at Ontario International Airport, provides students with access to pilots, engineers, mechanics, air traffic controllers and other aerospace professionals, who guide them through the basics of aviation and pilot training. A completion ceremony was held Dec. 18 at the airport. The course is the latest addition to A.B. Miller’s aviation career technical education pathway.
The Henry J. Kaiser High School Theatre Department’s staging of William Shakespeare’s "Coriolanus" drew rave reviews from California Educational Theatre Association (CETA) judges, earning third place in CETA’s 2021-22 High School Theater Festival. During the fall 2021 semester, CETA judges attended high school theatrical performances throughout southern California, adjudicating each production. Kaiser High School’s November staging of "Coriolanus" received a score of 100.39. The festival, which was to be held Jan. 14 to 16 at Los Osos High School in Rancho Cucamonga, was canceled due to the recent COVID-19 surge.
Fontana Unified students will receive at-home COVID-19 tests as part of the District’s continued commitment to providing safe and healthy learning environments and a statewide effort to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in schools. The District is working with the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools to receive and distribute the rapid COVID-19 tests, which are being provided to school districts by the California Department of Public Health, as soon as possible. Fontana Unified will continue to offer ongoing COVID-19 testing clinics, which are available to students, employees and the greater community at no cost. For testing dates, times and locations, visit https://www.fusd.net/coronavirus.
Fontana High School’s Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (MCJROTC) marksmanship team turned in a scintillating performance during the inaugural Arizona NRA Junior ROTC Air Rifle competition, held Dec. 4, 2021 in Arizona, capturing team and individual first place honors while advancing to the JROTC Service Championships, to be held in February. FOHI senior Jasmine Arguello and sophomore Crystal Santiago took top honors in the Sporter Veteran and Sporter New Shooter divisions, respectively, leading their teams to first-place finishes in the competition that brought ROTC programs together from California, New Mexico, and Arizona.
Fontana Unified Board of Education Selects New Leadership
Fontana Unified School District’s Board of Education held its annual organizational meeting on Dec. 15, voting its members into new leadership roles for 2022. The Board selected Dr. Jennifer Quezada as president and Joe Armendarez as vice president/clerk. Members Adam Perez, Mary Sandoval and Marcelino “Mars” Serna complete the Board of Education.
Fontana Unified will bring holiday cheer to families in need on Saturday, Dec. 18 with its annual Fontana Santas Toy Drive distribution, a drive-thru event that will provide students with toys and gifts. Held at the District office, 9680 Citrus Ave., Fontana, the event will culminate Fontana Unified’s 24th annual holiday toy drive, for which community organizations, District employees and Fontana residents donated toys and gifts cards.
Fontana High School Class of 2021 graduate Therelin Segura was honored by the National Latino Peace Officers Association (NLPOA) Inland Empire Chapter, receiving a $500 scholarship during its 2021 Officer Down Memorial Scholarship banquet on Dec. 5. A four-year member of FOHI’s Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps, Segura rose to the rank of Cadet Lieutenant Colonel and served as Cadet Commanding Officer for the entire program in her senior year. Segura is currently attending Cal Baptist University and studying law enforcement while working toward becoming a commissioned officer in the Marine Corps.
Fontana Unified was named the district winner for San Bernardino County in the Race to Submit campaign for achieving the highest percentage of financial aid applications completed by the Class of 2021 in the county. The District was recognized by the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools for the achievement, verifying that 60.46 percent of Fontana Unified students in the Class of 2021 had completed financial aid applications. Race to Submit is a statewide campaign to increase the number of financial aid applications completed by high school seniors in California.
For overseeing the successful implementation of an innovative curriculum designed to help struggling students discover a love for mathematics, Fontana Unified Superintendent Randal S. Bassett was recognized by the UC Davis C-STEM Center as its 2021 Superintendent of the Year. North Tamarind Elementary School fourth-grade teacher Janice Taylor and Elementary Education Coordinator Honey Sacro Swem were also recognized as C-STEM Teacher of the Year and C-STEM Administrator of the Year, respectively, during the center’s virtual conference, held Nov. 29 to Dec. 2. FUSD introduced C-STEM into its middle school curriculum in 2018; it is now available at 23 FUSD elementary schools, five middle schools, and one high school.
Fontana Unified freshman Matthew Barrera was recently honored at the statewide Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) Leadership Summit, celebrating his commitment to academic success and leadership in and out of the classroom. Barrera’s recognition at the statewide summit in November follows his selection as the 2021 Every Student Succeeding Award recipient, an honor bestowed by the ACSA Region 12 Board of Directors in early 2021, when Barrera was in eighth grade at Sequoia Middle School. The award also came with a $1,000 scholarship.
