Piner High School has nabbed the prestigious Golden Bell Award for its Geospatial Technology Program.

Piner will be honored by the California School Boards Association at their annual meeting Dec. 3 in San Diego.

Led by teachers Kristi Erickson and Kurt Kruger, the three-year pathways program teaches students global positioning technology, map making, surveying and other skills.

“The really wonderful thing about it is they can differentiate the curriculum within the course. We have special education students who are doing quite well and we also have kids who might be future engineers,” said Principal Sally Bimrose.

The program will be on display this week when Piner host the annual North Bay GIS User Group’s GIS Day.

The all-day event will be open for students only from 10 a.m. to noon and to the general public from 12:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday on the Fulton Road campus.

Groups working in the demonstration area include Tetra Tech, Sonoma State University, Santa Rosa Junior College, Sonoma Ecology Center, Pictometry and others.

Presenters include Google, Photo Science and the Sonoma County Water Agency.

The event is free.

For a full schedule and more information, click here: http://www.northbaygis.org/gis-day

The Golden Bell award has previously been given to Elsie Allen for its University Center program, to Santa Rosa High for ArtQuest, and Steele Lane Elementary for its special education reading program. In Petaluma City Schools, the Golden Bell has been awarded to Penngrove School for its Recess Renaissance program, for the district’s “Read y for Kindergarten” program, and to Petaluma High for their Engineering Design and Apprenticeship program.