Bonita High School

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Bonita High School
Established	1959
Type	Comprehensive, Public
Affiliation	Bonita Unified School District
Principal	Robert Ketterling
Dean	Christina Beltran
Grades	9-12
Location	3102 D St., La Verne, CA, United States
District	Bonita Unified
Campus	Open
Colors	Green and White
Mascot	Bearcat
Newspaper	The Paw Print
Asst. Principal	Kenny Richie
Asst. Principal	Gene Pizzolo
SSCs	Kay Smith, Amoreena Fidani, Kelly McGarvey, Juli Creese, Thom Young
Website	[http://www.bonita.k12.ca.us/bonita/

Bonita High School is located in the city of La Verne in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. The original high school, started upstairs in a building on D Street, soon moved to a large Mission-style building built in 1903 halfway between Lordsburg (the first name of La Verne) and the town of San Dimas. It was known as Bonita Union High School. When new earthquake standards were put in place, the 'old Bonita' was sold to the Catholic Diocese of Los Angeles, which it then converted into Damien High School, a private, all boys Catholic high school. A new Bonita High School was built at 3102 "D" Street. San Dimas built San Dimas High School a few years earlier. Bonita is one of two comprehensive high schools in the Bonita Unified School District.

Bonita has been recently recognized as a California Distinguished School for its excellence in Academics, Athletics, and the Arts, with a rating of 795, as opposed to San Dimas' ~500 (the California standard is 800). The school colors are green and white: the mascot is the Bearcat.

Once a year, Bonita plays a football game against the second school in the district, San Dimas High. This is a huge rivalry game, dubbed the "Smudgepot Game." The winning team takes home a chrome-plated smudge pot once used for grove heating when La Verne was known as "Heart of the Orange Empire." On 5 October 2007, Bonita lost the Smudgepot to San Dimas High for the first time in 3 years, 24-10 at San Dimas, much to the dismay of Bearcats.

Many students come from Ramona Middle School, also in La Verne.

Teaching Staff

English:

Ms. Lauren Clark
Ms. Katie Marsh
Ms. Brandi De Lang
Ms. Shannon Stark
Mr. Adam Archibald
Mr. J. Paul Eichen
Ms. Erin Peters
Mrs. Eva Valentijn
Ms. Jammie Halberg
Ms. Wendy Wallin
Mrs. Julie Jaeger
Ms. Kaylyn Ince
Mr. Adrian Medrano
Mr. Skip Clague
Mr. Scott Monsen

Mathematics:

Ms. Veronica Chiu
Mr. Todd Haeberlein
Mr. Dean French
Mrs. Joy Lindsay
Ms. Claire Verti
Mr. Darren Baumunk
Ms. Christine Tsai
Ms. Dana Renquist
Ms. Kari Redman
Ms. Adriana Contreras
Mr. Jason Dworak
Mr. David Shibuya
Ms. Michelle Adkins

Social Studies/Social Science:

Mr. Dan Harden
Mr. Joe Hurst
Mr. Bob Turner
Mrs. Lisa Dennis
Mrs. Madhu Sekhri
Mrs. Elaine Saffan
Mr. Gabriel Sanchez
Mr. Chris Mayer
Mr. Greg Eckler
Mr. Eric Podley
Ms. Dana Renquist
Mr. Andy Rosenberg
Dr. Judy Cameron

Physical Education:

Mr. George King
Mr. Eric Podley
Mr. Greg Eckler
Ms. Michelle Geiger
Ms. Catherine (Kitt) Holk
Ms. Brandi De Lang
Mr. Rich Cunningham
Mr. Darren Baumunk
Mr. John Knott

Science:

Ms. Jill Black
Mr. Michael Sornborger
Ms. Ruth Vilchez
Ms. Amanda Waterfield-Gibson
Mr. Richard Cunningham
Mr. Larry Thompson
Mr. Michael Hessom
Mr. Gary Riley

Extra-curricular Classes

Mr. Jeff Bird
Mr. Todd Helm
Ms. Janet Castro
Mr. Brian Harrison
Mr. William Clague
Ms. Brandi De Lang
Mr. Robin Purcell
Mrs. Pamela Kord
Mr. William Clague
Ms. Laurie Brandler
Ms. Linda Jones
Mr. Scott Wilcox
Ms. Nichole Martinez

Bonita offers both Honors and Advanced Placement classes.

Famous Alumni

Famous Alumni include actress Jessica Alba and English teacher Erin Gruwell. Erin Gruwell's teaching career was chronicled in the movie Freedom Writers, starring Hilary Swank. Also Walter Babst, who appeared on Dateline, and was arrested and charged with attempted child molestation.

Bands

These are a few bands that attended Bonita during the last few years: