By Miriam Raftery

November 20, 2014 (El Cajon)--Once again, six-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson has proven himself to be a hero for education in his hometown, El Cajon.

The Jimmie Johnson Foundation/Lowe’s Toolbox for Education has awarded $556,623 in grants for 2014—including grants to three schools in the Grossmont Union High School District.  The local grants include

• Chaparral High School - $29,482 to create a computer lab that will augment the program at Chaparral through the use of online learning and digital arts instruction.
• El Capitan High School - $23,000 to purchase new laptops for teachers so they can be better equipped to use digital/paperless resources and to teach students how to use the online resources and apps available to them.
• Grossmont High School - $80,458 to integrate technology and foster collaboration and making connections between the arts and core academic classes.

Other grants went to schools in North Carolina, Okalahoma, and to Loma Portal Elementary School in San Diego.

By Miriam Raftery

December 12, 2012 (El Cajon ) – Cindy Waddell graduated from Grossmont High School in 1976 and later lived in Scripps Ranch, earning her nursing degree from San Diego State Universtiy before moving to Oregon. Also known as Cindy Passalacqua and later Cindy Yuille, she lost her life in a shooting rampage yesterday at the Clackamas Town Center shopping mall near Portland, Oregon.

Former neighbor Linda Hughes recalled the slain woman as a “devoted mother, a sweet person,” ECM news partner 10 News reports. She was working as a hospice nurse in Oregon at the time of her death.

August 27, 2012 (El Cajon) -- Grossmont Union High School District and Grossmont High School celebrated the topping out of the new humanities building on Tuesday, Aug. 21. The ceremony marked the completion of the steel framing as the construction team set the final beam into place. The humanities building is scheduled for completion in spring of 2013.

East County Magazine catches up with the former Grossmont High School baseball star

By Ryan Schuler

April 18, 2012 (San Diego) -- The exact distance from Grossmont High School in El Cajon, Calif. to the University of San Diego is 14.7 miles. The former is where USD senior first baseman Bryan Haar made a name for himself as one of best high school baseball players in San Diego County; the latter is where Haar is making a name for himself by helping lead the 19th-ranked college baseball team in the nation to what many hope is a berth in the College World Series.

"'Expect a lot of ups and downs', because both teams were great teams and we're in their house, and we expected a big crowd, loud, and that's pretty much what it was" -- Steele Canyon head volleyball coach Karolyn Kirby

by Christopher Mohr

October 26, 2010 (El Cajon) - Monday night's (10/25) girls high school volleyball match at Grossmont High School between the host Foothillers and the visiting Cougars of Steele Canyon High School had about everything you could want in a sporting event. No one could have gone home feeling cheated with two contenders for the Grossmont Hills league title facing each other in a highly competitive, playoff-like atmosphere.