The Grizzly Gazette is produced in the journalism room, 412, at Granite Hills High School

Granite Hills High School is one of six Porterville Unified School District high schools located in Porterville, Calif. Granite Hills was established in 1999 and serves 1,040 students.

English teacher Bobby Todd started Granite’s newspaper, The Grizzly Gazette, in 1999. Evan Hackett became the adviser in 2003 and transitioned the school paper from newsprint to an online newspaper because of increasing production costs. The National Scholastic Press Association named The Grizzly Gazette an Online Pacemaker finalist in 2006, and winners in 2007 and 2008.

The Grizzly Gazette staff consists of 42 students who update and post daily during zero and first periods. Reporters also tweet breaking news to readers throughout the day. The Gazette staff works with 30 PC computers and three Macs.

The paper is hosted with HostGator.com and produced with the open source Joomla 1.5 content management system. The template was purchased from Rocketheme.com and redesigned by Gazette Website engineer, Erik Bartlett. The graphics and images are created with Photoshop and Illustrator and the sounds are produced with Soundtrack and Garage Band. The Gazette staff uses Canon XL2 and Sony HD video cameras to record their footage. The videos are produced with Final Cut Pro; the podcasts are edited with Audacity; and the slideshows are produced with iMovie. All media is hosted by Ooyala.com.

The Grizzly Gazette is a member of the American Society of News Editors and utilizes their photo services through the MCT Campus program. The Gazette utilizes this service to provide its readers with photographs that the Gazette staff are unable to take for articles and editorials that deal with national and international events.

The Grizzly Gazette staff plans on keeping the current design through the 2011-2012 school year. After this two year run, the Gazette will be redesigned witt the latest version of Joomla

Contact the Grizzly Gazette at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and (559) 782-7075 or visit us at 1701 E. Putnam Avenue Porterville, Ca 93257

Mayra Puente

To view promotional video for the Granite Hills High School DDC Academy, click here

The Grizzly Gazette staff holds a digital communications summer camp each summer for local middle school students.