The Horizon
May 2025
Dear Jurupa Community:
It’s the most wonderful time of the year: Graduation season!
This busy and exciting end of the school year is a time to celebrate all our students have accomplished as we prepare to send them off to start the next chapter of their lives. As you busily shuttle from event to event, I hope you also will join me in reflecting on how much our students have learned and grown. I have truly enjoyed visiting our school sites this year, and seeing how the action steps in our Vision for the Future are not only being implemented, but also are making a true difference. Thank you to our JUSD team for all of your hard work and dedication. Our students' celebrations are also an acknowledgment of all that you do every day.
This year, I had the special privilege of talking to four of our Class of 2025 graduates about their educational journeys and plans for the future. These students are featured in the On the Road with Dr. Hansen special Class of 2025 series and are featured in this newsletter. It is so inspiring to hear that no matter what the future may hold – career, college, military – these students feel prepared thanks to their Jurupa Experience. We are changing lives – one student, one story at a time.
I’m also so very proud of the efforts we are making to support all students and to remove obstacles to their success. Just one example is our systems of support for foster youth. May is National Foster Youth Awareness Month, and I’m very proud of the resources, empathy, and care our Educational Equity team provides these students so that they can succeed. Learn more about how we are fostering hope for these students in this month’s Horizon.
I also continue to be honored to serve our community alongside exceptionally talented and dedicated colleagues. Several of our district administrators earned prestigious recognitions this spring. These honors are a reflection of the work they do every day to selflessly serve the Jurupa community.
Thank you to our entire Jurupa Unified family – students, staff, parents, and community members for your continued support and engagement in our students’ educations. Have a wonderful summer, and we’ll see everyone back at school on Wednesday, August 6.
Johnathan Mangini, Jurupa Valley High School
Johnathan has completed several Career Technical Education Pathways and was in the first JUSD cohort of students to complete a pre-apprenticeship program with the IEETC (Inland Empire Electrical Training Center) and IBEW International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. He also has served as chair of JUSD’s CTE Advisory Committee. He looks forward to continued training as an electrician or working as a Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) Technician.
What he’s taking away from JUSD: “One of the things I’ve learned is perseverance. Just keep going and trying.”
Advice for his peers: “It really depends on where you want to go. If you want to go to college, if you want to go to work right after high school, whatever the answer to that question is, is correct. It’s up to you…it’s the mindset. Get up and do it.”
Abel Pineda, Nueva Vista High School
Abel plans to attend Riverside Community College after graduation to pursue a career as an automotive technician. After facing some obstacles early in his high school career, he found success at Nueva Vista and looks forward to the future.
What he’s taking away from JUSD: “All the teachers I’ve gotten have always looked out for me and always wanted me to reach my best potential.”
Advice for his peers: “The best piece of advice I can give is to not be scared to ask for help...Be disciplined…no matter what, as long as you stay disciplined and keep going…everything will go good.”
Lizette Mendoza, Patriot High School
Lizette is among only 14 percent of students in the nation selected to attend the United States Air Force Academy. To gain acceptance to the prestigious military academy, Lizette had to meet a series of rigorous academic, physical, and leadership standards. She also received a nomination from U.S. Congressman Mark Takano. She has a passion for flying and serves as President of the Patriot High Young Aviators of Tomorrow Club.
What she’s taking away from JUSD: “I feel very supported throughout my entire high school career. I just feel like the environment here at JUSD is very supportive.”
About the application process for the Air Force Academy: “I learned a lot about myself (and) a lot about the mental barriers that I had to break in order to really fulfill my fullest potential, and to show the academy that I am a deserving candidate. With a lot of support behind me, I was able to accomplish it.”
Advice for her peers: “Do what you love. Do what your heart draws you toward. As long as you have that self-motivation, that discipline in yourself, you’re able to conquer anything you put your mind to.”
Angela Martinez - Rubidoux High School
Angela was among the small percentage of high-achieving high school seniors to be named finalists for the prestigious Gates Scholarship. She also earned numerous other scholarships and honors and has been a dedicated Rubidoux Early College High School (RECHS) student, with concurrent enrollment in several college courses. She has also completed several Advanced Placement (AP) classes. She will attend UC Santa Barbara in the fall, where she plans to major in political science in preparation for a career as a lawyer.
What she’s taking away from JUSD: “The drive that I had and the motivation I had, knowing that coming to study in the United States was a privilege… drove me to continue this journey and get to where I stand today.
I realize that I’m not always going to be the best. I’m not always going to win at everything. That kind of humbled me and made me learn a lesson. I can try, and if I don’t win, or if I don’t succeed, it’s perfectly fine.”
Advice for her peers: “Take advantage of every single opportunity you have.”
May is recognized as National Foster Care Awareness Month
The challenges foster youth face can also serve as the source of their strength.
JUSD’s team of caring educators works hard to foster hope by helping students value their strength and resilience, showing them empathy and grace, and connecting them with resources available to help them move toward a promising future. Targeted programs and resources are available to foster youth year-round and are highlighted in May, which is National Foster Youth Awareness Month.
“We're making sure that we’re creating those safe spaces and building those trusting relationships with them, when often these student populations are not getting that access,” said Mariana Lopez Ramos, JUSD Foster and McKinney-Vento Counselor. “They go through such difficult circumstances…we need to embrace them. We need to make them feel seen, and we want to make sure that we hear them. I want the general population to see their potential and their resilience, to empathize but not pity.”
JUSD serves 162 foster youth. These students encounter challenges that can interfere with their academic success. JUSD’s team of counselors and liaisons, available at every JUSD campus, helps to connect these students with the support they need to be successful.
“Our foster students, they’re very, very resilient…they have this motivation in them, but a lot of them, because of all of the things that they go through, they need extra compassion, extra support and grace,” said Casie Mann, Student Management and Accountability Counselor at Patriot High School.
Congratulations to our incredible JUSD administrators who recently earned honors.
The following were recognized as Administrators of the Year for ACSA (Association of California School Administrators) Region XIX:
⭐Veronica Gonzalez, Director of Education-Information Technology
⭐Paula Ford, Assistant Superintendent of Business Services
⭐Denise Hernandez, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources
⭐Daniel Brooks, Assistant Superintendent of Education Services
⭐ Assistant Superintendent of Pupil Services Monty Owens has been honored with the Outstanding Leadership in Education Award, a joint recognition from the California Association of African American Superintendents and Administrators (CAAASA) and the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA).
⭐Dana Toland, Director of Maintenance & Operations, has earned the Tracey L. Case Memorial Classified Champion award from the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) Region XIX
⭐Rubidoux High School Principal Kevin Corridan has been recognized as WRCASM’s (Western Riverside County Association of School Managers) Secondary Principal of the Year.
We are so proud of our administrators for their leadership and dedication to student success.
Learn more about community schools and watch the rest of the Voices of Community Schools video series here.
FREE JUSD Summer Meals
Children ages 1-18 are welcome to enjoy free meals 🌽🍓🥪this summer! JUSD Nutrition Services is offering free summer meals. No paperwork is required, but meals must be consumed on-site.
The schedule is below:
🍎 June 3 - July 11 at all JUSD elementary schools
Lunch: 11:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
🍏June 3 - July 1 at Jurupa Valley High School, Patriot High School, and Rubidoux High School
Lunch: 12:30 pm. to 1:00 p.m.
🍎 Monday through Friday: 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Parent Center 4850 Pedley Road
Robidoux Library 5840 Mission Blvd.
🍏 Monday through Thursday: 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Glen Avon Library 9244 Galena St.
No meals on June 19th, July 3rd, and July 4th.
Scan the qr code for the menus or visit bit.ly/JUSDmeals25
Congratulations, Dual Seal of Biliteracy Earners
Congratulations to the eight JUSD students who earned State Seal of Biliteracy honors in two languages in addition to English. JUSD had the most students to earn this honor of any district in Riverside County. We had almost half of all multiple language honors, with nearly half of the total 20 students who reached this incredible milestone.
Honored students included:
Jurupa Valley High School
⭐Azucena Muñoz – Spanish and American Sign Language
⭐Jenelle Flores – Spanish and American Sign Language
Rubidoux High School
⭐Alejandro Zapien De La Torre – Spanish and French
⭐Dominic Ortega – Spanish and French
⭐Erik Vasquez – Spanish and French
⭐Jacqueline Gomez – Spanish and French
⭐Jovani Garcia – Spanish and French
⭐Lizbeth Sanchez – Spanish and French
Congratulations to these students and all of our students who earned the State Seal of Biliteracy!
JUSD AAPAC Promotions
Our JUSD African American Parent Advisory Council honored students promoting to kindergarten, 6th-grade, 8th-grade, and graduating from high school at a special ceremony on May 21st.
Congratulations to these outstanding students and thank you, AAPAC for your support and engagement throughout the year!
Congratulations, Future Electrical Workers!
The second cohort of students to complete our IEETC (Inland Empire Electrical Training Center) Electrical Pre-Apprenticeship Program were honored in a completion ceremony earlier this month.
These students now have an opportunity to test and interview for paid apprenticeships and careers with the IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers). We are so proud of these students for completing the program and wish them luck as they continue on their career paths.
JUSD is the Place to Be!
Enroll today to save your spot for the 2025-26 school year and give your child the Jurupa Experience.
Jurupa Unified School District offers one of the highest graduation rates in Riverside County, the highest college/career preparedness rate in Riverside County, 27 CTE Pathways, including programs that offer students industry certification, Dual Immersion language programs in grades TK-12, and so much more.
Enroll today at: https://bit.ly/JUSDENROLL.
For more information, please call 951-416-1200 or email parentcenter@jusd.k12.ca.us