Reinventing Da Vinci Project

Kate Heubach and Sydney Luhnow modeling paper hats in front of metal tapestry

Luis Arroyo's Low Poly, Art Created on the Computer

Water Bending Model Onno Cooley, Photographer Dana DeVriese,using a high shutter speed to freeze the water as it's thrown to make it look like the subject can manipulate it with their mind

1988-89 Jim Hatcher and his photography students

1946 ER Photography and Lake and Jim Parker

1946 El Recuerdo Boyd Anderson

Since its inception in 1920, Grossmont High School’s staff and its community viewed art as an essential part of its curriculum.  The floor plans for the 1922 “Castle” reveal a classroom, labeled “Art Department”, in a prominent location; the 1922 yearbook names Luella M. Hughes as its Music and Art teacher.

In 1949, the school celebrated the construction of a Home and Arts building, which for the next 67 years, became the home of art and photography classes.  Today’s 2016 Art building houses classrooms beyond the imagination of those early teachers with spacious rooms and modern equipment that stimulate the students’ creativity.

2-D and AP Studio Art

GHS 2022 NJROTC Cadets

Ashley Smith 2022 Girls Varsity Tennis

Annabell Van Cotthem, Valley League MVP,Erica Freeman, Grossmont Conference Golf Tournament Champion

Grossmont Advanced Strings at Parkway Academy

2022 Boys Cross Country

2022 Winter Dance

Looking back on the past few months, Foothillers have much to celebrate, symbolized by “Dancing through the Decades 1950s-2000s”, an ASB sponsored dance at UCSD Price Center on December 3rd, with an enthusiastic crowd enjoying every minute.  During the first semester, the students and staff of GHS have welcomed the return to a sense of normalcy.

NJROTC

Dance Performs at the 101st Anniversary Celebration

Cast of The Election

Kiyara Abernathy Enjoys Her Guitar Class

Grossmont Advanced Strings at Parkway Academy

2022 California State Band Championships

2022 GHS Vocal Music at ACDA Invitational Choral Festival

The GHS Performing Arts Department has a celebrated history with its roots in 1920-1921 with the first drama performance, the first instrumental music group, and the first dance group.  Quickly, the programs blossomed, winning county, state, and national recognition and enriching the lives of Foothillers and their community and becoming the cultural hub of East County. 

Today, GHS has its amazing 2020 Performing Arts Center which fosters these programs.  Such a facility was only a dream for the school’s first 99 years.

Dance

One hundred years ago, Grossmont High School’s granite façade “Castle” was completed.  Among the oldest high schools in San Diego County, amazingly, Grossmont is the only school to have preserved its original school, which was used by its students until 2006, when it became entirely the GUHSD office.

In 1920 Colonel Ed Fletcher gave most of the land for the school for a $10 fee, along with several lots donated by James and Mary Murray.  The architect of the building was T. C. Kistner; the contractor was N.H. Beer.

During its two-year construction, GUHS students attended school at the now closed Riverview HS campus in Lakeside. In September 25, 1922, students first attended classes at Grossmont in the “Castle”.  However, the building wasn’t completed until January 13, 1923. 

The original Minutes of the Board of Trustees of Grossmont Union High School: August 14, 1920-Dec. 5, 1928, reveal fascinating details of the cost of the building’s construction:

July 21, 1921: