Recently in Upland Unified School District Category

The Parent Teacher Association at Pepper Tree Elementary School will be holding a drive in conjunction with Goodwill Industries from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jan. 7 at the school, 1045 W. 18^th St. in Upland.

The PTA is trying to raise money to purchase new playground equipment.

People will be able to drive up to the sale and drop off gently used items to donate. Donations are tax deductible.

All items must be sell-able as is.

For more information email Peppertreefundraising@yahoo.com

Several Upland High and Hillside High School students took home awards in this year's Reflections Program.

The program, which has run for more than 40 years, offers students in grades K-12 an opportunity to create works of art including dance choreography, film production, literature, musical composition, photography and visual arts.

The entries are created to reflect a specific theme. This year's theme was "Diversity Means..."

Next year's theme will be "The Magic of the Moment."

The winners:

Literature

Ryan Rue-Las, first place

Alexa Nicole Fajardo, second place

Kelsang Donyo, third place

Photography

Casi Martinez, first place

Cosette Lias, second place

Visual Arts

Tseng Ti Shiuan, first place

Tiba Alwahib, second place

Hillside High School student, Ernie Perez, won a $100 Visa gift card during a free give-away raffle

All Reflections entries will be displayed in the Upland High School library, 565 W. 11^th St., through the end of the school day on Dec. 14.

The entries will then be displayed at Hillside High School, 1558 W. 9^th St., from Jan. 9-26.

Finally, they will head to the Chaffey Federal Credit Union, 410 N Lemon St., from Jan. 27 through Feb. 15.

The students with winning entries received gifts from local businesses including My Delight Cup Cakery in Ontario, Chaffey Federal Credit Union, Starbucks in Upland and Game Workshop in Ontario.

Plans are underway to mark Pioneer Junior High School's 50^th anniversary.

Marge Ruffalo, principal, and a committee of volunteers are seeking to host a barbecue, an exhibit of school memorabilia, musical performances and a luncheon for honored guests on May 10.

Prices for the barbecue will be set at 1962 prices, which is the year the school opened.

The school is requesting Pioneer alumni, former teachers or administrators, especially people from the school's first few years of operation, to contact the school office if they would like to be part of the celebration.

The committee is also seeking to borrow old pennants, gym uniforms, athletic uniforms, cheerleading outfits as well as other Pioneer memorabilia to include in the exhibit.

Civic organizations, area businesses, Pioneer alumni or community members who would like to help with celebration expenses are welcome.

Any funds raised above the cost of the event will go toward the purchase of a new electronic sign to be placed in front of the school.

For more information on the celebration, call Joanne Pomierski at 909-949-7770.

Pioneer Junior High School is hosting a shopping night on Wednesday at Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, 829 W. Foothill Blvd. in Upland.

The school will earn 5 percent of the total sales between 4 and 8 p.m.

Several teachers and administrators will be on hand to help bag purchases.

The school will also receive $1 for ever $20 spent at the store anything throughout the school year through Fresh & Easy's Shop for Schools program.

Receipts of $20 or more can be dropped off at the school, 245 W. 18^th St., in order for the school to benefit from participating in the program.

Upland Junior High School has 205 reasons to be proud, said teacher Jason Craig.

Craig's Project Lead the Way class, 205 students researched, designed and built a 1980's vintage video game cabinet.

As an added twist, the students used current technology and electronics to do it all.

The project was entered into the L.A. County Fair student competition and took home first place in the Junior High School category for group projects.

Seventh graders ended the year in a unit called Magic of Electrons and eighth-graders ended the year in a unit called Energy and the Environment.

The students used their design and modeling skills to recreate the look of a vintage game cabinet that they designed on the computer using 3-D modeling software, Craig said. They collected all of the necessary parts and spent about a week on the construction and installation of the electronics.

Students applied their recent classroom learning about electricity and electronics as they installed the monitor, buttons, joystick, computer card and power supply.

Their project can be seen at the Fair through Oct. 2 in the Education Building.

The Upland Professional Firefighters and Upland City Fire Department delivered new backpacks and school supplies to local elementary schools during the first week of classes.

"Most of our firefighters have families of their own so were excited to participate in a project like this where we're helping local kids in need. With each of our members participating in this project, our department was able to collect dozens of new backpacks along with several boxes of school supplies for children here in Upland," said Ryan Webb, president of the Upland Professional Firefighters, in a city news release. "Every day as we respond to emergency calls within the city, our firefighters encounter families in

need so we felt this was an excellent opportunity to help those families during these hard

economic times."

Upland firefighters spent the last few weeks collecting donated backpacks and school supplies from the community to give to Upland elementary school students.

The Upland Professional Firefighters' Local #3477 is the labor association representing the 36 members of the Upland Fire Department.

Judy Moore, a food service manager for the Upland Unified School District, was announced as the 2011 Member of the Year by the California School Employees' Association Upland Chapter 163.

The announcement was during the chapter's annual fiesta on May 20 at Don Jose Restaurant. Moore has worked in the district for twenty-two years, and will be retiring at the end of this school year.