Granite Hills High School is a California Distinguished School,[2] public and comprehensive high school located in El Cajon, California and serves students in grades nine through twelve. Opened in 1960, Granite Hills is one of thirteen high schools in the Grossmont Union High School District. GHHS is the home of the Eagles. Granite Hills High School has been an IB World School since July 2001.
History
Shooting
Just minutes after lunch ended and fifth period began on March 22, 2001, an 18-year-old former student, Jason Hoffman, arrived on campus with a 12-gauge shotgun (with size 7 or 8 birdshot) and a .22 pistol, opening fire outside the attendance office which also houses the principal and vice principals' offices.[3] Five people were injured by shrapnel or suffered severe symptoms from the traumatic experience, but few victims incurred bullet wounds. Hoffman was shot in the buttocks and jaw. Hoffman was arrested by police officer Rich Agundez,[4] who had been on campus during school hours since the shooting two weeks earlier at Santana High School.[5] Hoffman would later commit suicide by hanging himself from bedsheets in his prison cell in October 2001.[6]
Recent history
Recently, Granite Hills has been undergoing some construction to many of its classes. The football field has also been renovated.[citation needed]
It was discovered that Granite's soil contains a large amount of carcinogens. As of January, 2009, studies were in progress and the source of contamination was unknown. Tainted dirt has also been found at other schools in the district.[7]
In January 2009 the long time eagle statue, "Ernie", was ripped off of its base by vandals and destroyed.[8]
Granite Hills Marching Band
The students in the GHHS Marching Band perform at the Mother Goose Parade, Christmas in the lights, Alpine Parade, and at every home football game especially the Homecoming game. The marching Eagles also go to "Band Night" featuring the SDSU Marching Aztecs and gathering other marching bands from the GUHSD District. Popular tunes such as the "007 Theme" and "Bon Jovi Theme" highlight the "GUHSD Marching Band and Color Guard Field Show Extravaganza" held every year. During second semester they do winter and spring concerts as the "Concert Band". Some are joint concerts with middle schools from Cajon Valley School District.
Athletics
Granite Hills offers every California Interscholastic Federation sanctioned sport.[citation needed] On December 10, 2022, the Granite Hills Eagles beat San Ramon Valley of Danville for the California State 2-A football title at Saddleback College, scoring in overtime and then holding on. This was the first state football championship in school history.
Notable alumni
This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations. (January 2022)
^writer, Scott Martelle Scott Martelle is a former Times staff; Massacre, member of the editorial board He also is the author of several nonfiction books on such disparate subjects as the Ludlow; war, 1913-14 Colorado coalfield; Detroit, the history of; Walker, William; Nicaragua, the pre-Civil War American adventurer who for a brief time made himself president of (2001-03-23). "5 Hurt in Gunfire at High School Near San Diego; Student Is Held". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2021-12-28. ((cite web)): |first2= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
