Grant Union High School, part of the Twin Rivers Unified School District, celebrated a major milestone on Monday.
An arch of blue and yellow balloons — reflecting the school’s spirit colors and the building’s blue and yellow exterior accent colors — framed a ribbon-cutting ceremony honoring the recently completed auditorium renovation at the Del Paso Heights school.
According to Darris Hinson, Grant ’s principal, the renovation is an important moment for the school and the community.
“Everything that happens for Grant Union High School happens for the Del Paso Heights community and the community at large,” he said. “It’s always just a wonderful feeling to know that there’s an investment being made in our students and in our school community.”
Grant Union High School in the Del Paso Heights neighborhood of Sacramento unveils the restoration of its auditorium on Monday.
According to Christine Jefferson, Twin Rivers’ board president, the auditorium has been the heart of the school — and the community — for 93 years.
A centerpiece of the renovation is a historic pipe organ, which Hinson says is unlike any other in Northern California. According to Hinson, the school’s alumni association has flown out musicians from across the country to play it.
The renovation of the school’s auditorium has personal meaning to Hinson, who graduated from Grant and was a part of the school’s theater program.
“To see this auditorium renovated and see all the upgrades on the campus means a lot,” he said, “because I know how it feels to walk onto this campus with that sense of pride, and this just amplifies what that feels like.”
Members of the Grant Union High School Alumni Association listen to remarks during the unveiling of the school’s renovated auditorium on Monday.
The auditorium was not the only ribbon cutting held at Grant on Monday. Another project at the school, a beautification project for its west campus, was also celebrated on Monday.
That project includes new landscaping, improving an existing parking lot by updating the lighting and adding electric vehicle chargers, as well as installing panic hardware at pedestrian gates, according to a CEQA exemption notice.
The two projects are part of a series of upgrades the school has undergone in recent years. In August 2024, the school unveiled a new sports complex featuring new baseball and softball fields as well as an updated cafeteria cafe called Pacer Cafe. Other upgrades are detailed in a 2021 master plan.
Steve Martinez, Twin Rivers Superintendent, welcomes the Grant Union High School drumline during the unveiling of the restoration of the school’s auditorium on Monday.
Grant Union High School Criminal Justice Academy students present the colors in the restored auditorium on Monday.