Granada Hills High School

Granada Hills Charter High School
Motto: The Largest Charter School In the Nation(formerly: Reverence, Respect and Responsibilty, changed under charter). Former motto visible in image below.
Location
10535 Zelzah Ave Granada Hills, CA, 91344  United States
Information
School district	Charter
Head of school	Brian Bauer
Type	Public
Grades	9-12
Mascot	Highlanders
Color(s)	green, black, white
Established	1961
Homepage	http://www.ghchs.com/

Granada Hills Charter High School (Granada Hills High School) is a public, charter, co-educational, secondary school consisting of students in grades 9-12. The school colors are green, black, and white. It is located in the Granada Hills neighborhood in the City of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was previously directly administered by the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), but is currently independent as the school was granted charter status. It is commonly known as "GHHS", "GHCHS", "G HOUSE", or simply "Granada". Granada serves Granada Hills, portions of Northridge, and Porter Ranch.

History

The school was founded in 1961. In 1994, the school opened on its campus an LAUSD magnet school with an emphasis in math, science and technology in conjunction with the California State University at Northridge. The school also maintains a highly successful program for the deaf and hard of hearing. In 2003, the school was awarded charter status to increase student achievement. The school generates approximately $35 million based on student enrollment and attendance and specific programs. As an independent, directly funded charter school, the majority of the funding is sent directly the school. The school is currently accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. The school has a governing board, which branches off into four committees: Student Services, Facilities and Operations, Curriculum and Instruction, and Human Resources. These four committees contain various representatives which include students, teachers, parents, administrators, and other faculty.

Achievements

Academics

In 2007, Granada won the Los Angeles City Academic Decathlon and its Science Bowl team placed second at the Los Angeles regional competition. In 2005, its Science Bowl teams took fourth and fifth place at the regional competition, and its Academic Decathlon team ranked third in the nation. Currently, Granada, is the 379th best high school in the nation, according to Newsweek. The school has a team that participates in the FIRST Robotics Competition every year, Team #599 the RoboDox. In 2006, they were finalists at the Southern California Regional Competition. They were also the champions of the Los Angeles VEX Regional Competition held in December 2006 at CSUN.

It became a Title I school in 2003-2004 and operates in terms of student performance through its charter, Local Education Agency Plan (Single Plan for Student Achievement), School Technology Plan, Governing Board policies and memorandums of understanding with LAUSD. In the last 3 years as a charter school, GHCHS has become a laboratory for educational reform while maintaining the highest-ranking Academic Performance Index (API) and attendance of any comprehensive high school in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Athletics

In the 1978 L.A. City Championship Baseball game, John Elway led Granada to the title over Crenshaw High, which featured future major leaguers Chris Brown and Darryl Strawberry. Granada Hills Girls Golf team is 6-0 for LA City Championship titles since the program started in 2001. Partial list of Granada Hills L.A. City Championship teams:

• Baseball: 1975 (4A Division), 1976 (4A Division), 1978 (4A Division), 1979 (4A Division), 1984 (4A Division), 2002 (Invitational), 2003 (Invitational), 2004 (Invitational), 2006 (Invitational)
• Basketball: 1976 (3A Division), 1987 (3A Division)
• Football: 1970, 1987
• Girls Golf: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006
• Volleyball: 1986 (3A Division), 1987 (3A Division), 1997 (4A Division), 2006, 2007
• Swimming: 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000

Highlander Band

• 11 Time LA city Champions

Television

• 2007 Live Performance with MyFox L.A. Hilites with Elizibeth Espinosa
• 2005 & 2006 Frito-Lays presents Mexican National Soccer tem U.S. tour halftime extravaganza
• - Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
• - Dieste Harmel & Partners Agency, Dallas, Texas
• - National/International television broadcast
• 2005 Round Table Pizza Commercial –National Television advertising campaign
• - Japanese Monster Productions
• 2005 Comedy Central Holiday Parade promotion
• - World Wide television broadcast
• - Riverfron Productions-(Alumni Band)
• 2005 Will Smith at the Kids Choice Awards on Nickelodeon - National Television audience
• 2004 ABC - Extreme Makeover Home Edition
• 2004 Warner Brothers - Gilmore Girls
• 2004 Kelloggs National Advertising Campaign – National Television Commercial,

RADICAL MEDIA PRODUCTION, CENTRAL CASTING CO.

• 2004 Dateline NBC – National Television Broadcast
• 2002 7-UP National Advertising Campaign – National Television Commercial

HEADQUARTERS PRODUCTIONS

• 2002 Winter Olympic Games - Salt Lake City, Utah – (only high school band invited)

INTERNATIONAL Television Broadcast and Coverage

• 2002 World’s Largest Digital Image Commercial – LA Collesium

HEWLETT PACKARD CORPORATION-DOGMATIC PROD

• 2001 Cal Florida All-Star Football Classic – National Broadcast – FOX SPORTS
• 2000 MTV’s Rock Your World – Nationally Broadcast MTV series – MTV PRODUCTIONS
• 1998 The American Teacher Awards - National Television Broadcast
• WALT DISNEY CORPORATION (Performing original composition by

and rehearsing under Tony Award Winning composer HAROLD WHEELER)

• 1996 KCET, California Gold, Huwell Howser. Angels Flight Re-dedication.

NATIONAL PUBLIC TELEVISION AUDIENCE

• Film
• 2003 Ben Stiller's DODGEBALL A true underdog story
• 1999 “The Michael Jordan Story” – International Movie Release – HBO PRODUCTIONS
• 1998 Adam Sandler’s The Waterboy – Soundtrack Work – TOUCHSTONE PICTURES

• Live Performances
• 2006 Hollywood Bowl - Hector Berlioz - "Grand Symphony" - Two performances with the L.A. Phillharmonic
• 2004 Hollywood Bowl - Leonard Berstein's Mass - L.A. Philharmonic
• 2004 Live performance with Debra Harry and Blondie at Warner Brothers Studio International Television Division
• 2003 KIIS FM Wango Tango Performance – Live on stage performance with

JC Chasez of NSYNC – Rose Bowl (Featured music from 20th Century Fox production of “Drumline”)

• 2002 L.A. Philharmonic Summer Season 2002 Inaugural Performance – Hollywood Bowl – L.A. PHILHARMONIC ASSOC.
• 2000 Democratic National Convention Command Performance – L.A., CA PARAMOUNT STUDIOS
• 1997 Command Performance for Hillary Clinton
• 1994 Filmex International Film Exhibition. Opening night, Graumans Chinese Theatre,

Hollywood.

• Performing original composition by Grammy and Tony award winning composer Stephan Sondheim

Notable alumni

• Doug Baker, former professional baseball player (1984-90; Detroit Tigers & Minnesota Twins)^[1]
• Valerie Bertinelli, actress
• Ryan Braun, professional baseball player, and 2007 National League Rookie of the Year^[1]
• John Elway, professional football player
• Robert Englund, actor
• Shin Hyesung, Korean Pop Star
• Joan Jett, singer
• Alice Kim, ex-wife of Actor Nicolas Cage
• Kameron Loe, professional baseball player^[1]
• Gary Matthews, Jr., professional baseball player^[1]
• Blanchard Montgomery III, professional football player^[2]
• Dave Schmidt, former professional baseball player (1981-1992; Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Montreal Expos & Seattle Mariners)^[1]
• Tamlyn Tomita, actress

Trivia

The Punk band Boys Like Girls filmed the music video for their song, The Great Escape, at the High School.

References

External links

• Granada Hills Charter High School official website