Committed to providing equity in education while instilling a culture that promotes life-long learners, Fontana Unified Superintendent Randal S. Bassett has announced the names of five administrators who have been appointed to new positions within the District.
Adorned with garlands of blue and gold, Canyon Crest Elementary School welcomed dozens of families and community members on May 16 to celebrate its designation as a 21st Century Learning Exemplar school by the Battelle for Kids Partnership for 21st Century Learning (P21).
Christian Castaneda – a student at Fontana Unified’s Jurupa Hills High School – will attend the prestigious California Youth Think Tank (CYTT) college residence program, held June 16-22 at the University of Southern California. CYTT empowers students to gain knowledge and skills for success in college, careers and beyond. Castaneda and nearly 60 student leaders will live on the USC campus, attend daily classes and engage in team debates, public speaking events, team competitions, panel discussions, off-campus field trips and more.
Programming drones and getting behind the wheel of a forklift simulator, Fontana Unified parents and students explored new aspects of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) during the District’s inaugural Family STEM Showcase, held May 4 at Citrus High School. Among the new technology available for students in the fall are Microsoft’s HoloLens augmented reality headsets, HTC Vive virtual reality headsets, heavy equipment simulators, an inflatable planetarium and a Makerspace collaborative work lab.
Henry J. Kaiser High School senior Jashandeep Lobana – an accomplished tri-sport athlete, AP scholar and avid volunteer – has been recognized as a 2019 Gates Scholar, one of two in Fontana Unified and among 300 students in the nation to be honored. Lobana’s academic feats have already secured him a $40,000 Edison International scholarship and admission to Johns Hopkins University, where he plans to study neuroscience before attending medical school and pursuing a career in neurosurgery.
Fontana Unified School District showcased student excellence, touted award-winning schools and programs and announced two major projects at the 2019 State of the District scholarship breakfast on April 23 at Center Stage Theater. During a keynote address, Superintendent Randal S. Bassett announced the District’s two newest projects to propel the District forward: an innovative secondary school that will feature a museum and community science center; and a 1:1 tech device initiative that ensures every student has access to a laptop or tech device in the classroom.
Jurupa Hills High School senior Kaitlyn Dodgen – an International Baccalaureate Class of 2019 Diploma Candidate – has been recognized as a 2019 Gates Scholar by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, one of just 300 students across the United States to receive the honor. Dodgen, who has a 4.6 GPA, was accepted into more than a dozen colleges, including two Ivy League schools, and will attend the University of Chicago to study statistics. The university has an acceptance rate of less than 10 percent.
Fontana Unified will hold its first-ever Family STEM Showcase from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, May 4, providing families with a day of engaging activities that highlight science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) offerings in FUSD schools. The event, hosted on Star Wars Day, will feature activities like Minecraft, coding, robotics, rocketry, augmented and virtual reality, 3-D printing, Makerspaces, an innovation bus, an escape room and more. The free event will be at Citrus High School, 10760 Cypress Ave., Fontana.
As cheerleaders chanted “We are Southridge Tech,” Fontana Unified board members, administrators, educators and students celebrated Southridge Tech Middle School’s honor as one of 16 California schools newly chosen for the 2019 Schools to Watch list. The Schools to Watch list, created by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform, identifies schools across the U.S. that share three features: academic excellence, developmentally responsive to early adolescence and social equity.
Fontana Unified School District on April 17 renamed Dorothy Grant Elementary School and Southridge Middle School to reflect the schools’ efforts to prepare students for the academic and professional challenges of the future. Grant becomes the Dorothy Grant Innovations Academy, paying homage to the school’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) academies. Grant is also home to one of Fontana Unified’s two Code to the Future programs, which engages students in technology-based lessons and develops block coding, robotics and scripted coding skills.
