Green Energy Technology Academy
Est. 2008
Laguna Creek High School
Mission Statement:
Students of the Green Energy Technology Academy study the technology of renewable energy. GETA students explore the concepts of energy extraction, conversion and transmission through complex, hands-on, project-based work. Depending on a their post secondary plans, students who graduate from the Green Energy Technology Academy will be prepared to enter two or four year institutions of study, enter a technical training program or go directly to work in the Energy Sector.
Instructors
Recent Events
Keep up with the Academy!
Our Newsletters can be seen on our Monthly Newsletter Tab and they serve as a great way to keep up with the highlights of the Academy. Here is a link to our most recent Newsletter: March 2024
2023-2024 GETA Highlights:
Many opportunities this year for GETA, Including:
Internships
- Miles Deville with EGUSD Facilities & Planning Office - 1 of 5 selected
- Trevor Matsumoto with Lennar - 1 of 20 selected
- Kai Grecia with SMUD 1 of 11 selected & Bufferlands 1 of 3 selected
- Our Project Based Curriculum continues to improve.
Including: EGUSD, SMUD events/internship, Happy Valley Dairy Project, Villara, Lennar Junior Internships and Trades Training workshops.
2022-2023 GETA Highlights:
Many new opportunities this year for GETA, Including:
- Our Project Based Curriculum has continued to improve.
- GETA Potluck and Senior KanJam events
- Mr. Johnson & Mr. Collins continue to be our reining KanJam Champs
- GETA Fundraisers & Foodfair
- Leadership raised about $500 from their fundraisers to get academy shirts
- Student made fundraising products such as key-chains and commissions
- Freshmen won the Engineering Design at the SMUD Solar Car Race
- New boat built for the SMUD Solar Regatta, using new hydraulic steering system
- Boat team took home Endurance and Speed awards
- Hydrogen Fuel Cell Grand Prix Car Club has started up again
- Grant earned from local radio club for Satellite Rocketry & Radio Club
- Sophomores start up new aquaponics project
- Junior ARCGIS Mapping project
- Senior GETA COMM and Landsail project
- SMUD Landsail workshops
- New FlashForge 3D printers & Plastic recycling system, these open many new opportunities for students and future projects
- Many successful field trips to partner facilities, guest speakers, Mock Interviews, and Trades Training Workshops
Including: SMUD events/internship, Happy Valley Dairy Project, Villara, Lennar Junior Internships and Trades Training workshops.
Student made Regatta Highlight Video
2022-2023 SMUD Solar Regatta Race
- In the 10th Annual SMUD Solar Regatta, we brought home the Speed and Endurance Event Awards.
- This year we brought Sophomores who are interested in the joining the team to the event in preparation for next year.
SMUD Solar Regatta Team
Assembling boat
Students enjoying games at Potluck
KanJam Tournament
GETA Fundraisers & Foodfair
GETA presents to 8th graders at LCHS info night
Awards Night
Alumni Night
Sophomore Aquaponics Setup
Satellite Radio club installing Antenna
-In collaboration with local radio club, Ham Shack and antenna installed in facility
-Successful Alumni Night, Potlucks, KanJam, and Awards Night events
2021-2022 GETA Highlights:
- Our New GETA Facility has been completed
- Our Project Based Curriculum has continued to improve.
- We held another successful Senior KanJam event! Mr. Johnson & Mr. Collins are still the reigning champs, looking forward challenging them next year.
-We also held multiple other events such as an awards night for our current students to earn awards for their hard work in GETA classes and an alumni night for alumni to meet up with friends and catch up with the academy.
- We started/revived a new club this year. In partnership with Robert Twiggs, our local amateur radio club, and many others we have started up our Satellite Rocketry & Radio Club which strives to teach students more about circuitry, radio, and satellites with the end goal of creating a Satellite and using our radio skills to communicate to it and others.
- We also had many successful field trips to partner facilities, guest speakers, Job Shadows Experiences, Mock Interviews, Trades Training Workshops, and Problem Case Based Learning Assignments.
Including: SASD, SMUD, Happy Valley Dairy Project, UC Davis Air Filtration Training, Villara, Lennar Junior Internships and Trades Training workshops.
Regatta team photo during drive practice
2021-2022 SMUD Solar Regatta Race
- In the 9th Annual SMUD Solar Regatta, we brought home the Championship Cup in addition to taking the Slalom race, and Speed Event Awards.
2021-2022 Smud Solar Car Race
-This year GETA Freshmen and Sophomores created mini solar cars. They placed 2nd overall and won the Engineering Design and Sustainability awards.
Here is a student made video documenting the event.
Students giving SASD presentation proposing solar canopy or alternative energy solutions
Awards Night: student and parent seating
Awards Night: Succulent Awards
Alumni Night: Alums chatting
Alumni Night: Alums signing posters
UC Davis Filtration Presentation and Demo
Satellite Team: assembling telescoping antenna
SASD Presentation and tour: Group Photo
SMUD Solar Car Competition: making last minute adjustments
HVDP Presentation
KanJam Tournament
BIG NEWS ITEMS for 2021-2022
We have partnered with a Wind Turbine Simulation Software company called Simis (Software- ASHES) and a High School in Sweden (Tecknikum) to bring wind turbine modeling, virtual testing, fabrication and real life testing to high schools throughout the world. More to come ...
We are working with the original designer of our 1st generation charge controller for our wind turbines. We have reconnected and are in the collaborative and prototyping phase for the next generation. This charge controller will include Augmented Reality (AR) to help students understand the workings of the controller. More to come...
We are working with Twiggs Space Lab as the BETA program for a line of STEM products that takes students from simple circuitry, all the way to a small satellite. More to come...
The SMUD Solar Regatta is back and we will be working to get our boat and team ready for the May 2022 competition in Ranch Seco, CA.
Hopefully, we will be travelling to Brazil in June of 2022 to teach students in Sao Paulo, Brazil how to build Solar Suitcases. This trip in 2020 was cancelled at the very last minute due to COVID.
UPDATE (3/21/2022): All travel, as per our Brazilian counterparts, has been postponed until at least August 2022. More to come...
2019-2020 GeTA HighLights:
This School Year we expanded on our success from last year while working through serious obstacles:
-This year has definitely brought its ups and downs with the biggest obstacle of the second semester being the COVID-19 pandemic. This unfortunate turn of events led to a drastic change in the learning environment. The GETA academy took this obstacle head on and continued the curriculum.
-This year a team of GETA students ranging from sophomores to seniors planned a prepared from a technical/cultural exchange with Brazil. To provide for the poorer communities in Sao Paulo these students prepared several solar suitcases, learned parts of the Portuguese language, and communicated with students in Brazil. Unfortunately because of the COVID-19 pandemic the trip itself got cancelled, but the learning that took place as a result of their preparation reflects the academy in a positive manner.
-Our solar regatta team strived to surpass the success from last year. In attempt to improve the boat as a whole, the students planned to integrate a new hydraulic steering mechanism, and then remodel the boats solar panel supports and angling system.
-The learning curriculum has continued to grow and develop.
-Once again, we had many successful field trips and career opportunities with our partner facilities. This includes; SASD, Lennar, SMUD, CRC, Sac State, UC Davis, EGUSD, Horizon Educational, and Villara.
2018-2019 GETA Highlights:
This school year has been one of our most successful years to date:
- In the 2019 Annual SMUD Solar Race Car event held at Cosumnes River College, our Freshmen finished in 1st place as the Champions, 3rd, and took home top prizes in the Design Competition and Sustainability Competition
- In the Toyota Sponsored, Horizon Grand Prix, Laguna Creek Host the NorCal Finals and our team finished 2nd overall, 2nd in Energy Efficiency and first in the Stock Class Design Competition.
- In the 8th Annual SMUD Solar Regatta, we brought home the Championship Cup in addition to taking first in the Slalom race, and Second in the Sprint, Endurance and Presentation Events.
- Two of our Advocacy Classes Won the annual Christmas Door Decorating Contest.
- Our Project Based Curriculum continues to improve every year.
- Our Brand New GETA Facility is Scheduled to break ground in early October
- We had many successful field trips to partner facilities, guest speakers, Job Shadows Experiences, Mock Interviews, Trades Training Workshops, and Problem Case Based Learning Assignments. Some of these include: Folsom Power House, UC Davis PE & HV Research Center, All Power Labs in Berkeley, SunPower in Richmond, Sacramento Regional Builders Exchange (SRBX) Trades Expo,
SunPower Solar Presentation
SunPower Activity- Tracing the Energy of the Sun to its use in the home.
SunPower Table Discussions with SunPower Experts
SunPower- A stop along the tour
SunPower trip photo stop on our way the The Rosie The Riveter Museum on the Richmond waterfront
Rosie The Riveter Docent explaining what to expect in the Museum
One of our students as Rosie the Riveter
Our GETA freshmen working with solar lighting and learning to solder
Trades Training Workshop: Drywall
Folsom Power House Trip to also learn about the Native Americans who once lived in this area.
Folsom Power House Group Picture
The Actual Folsom Power House
Our Students Really Enjoyed The Folsom Power House
The Power House had some really large, on-site created, tools
A group photo at the Folsom Power House
PBCL Presentation to our partners at SASD (Sacramento Area Sewer District)
UC Davis PE & HV Tour
All Power Labs Biofuel tour in Berkeley
Austin of All Power Labs gave us a great overview of our need to be energy aware
A steaming cup of "StarBirds" Coffee and one of this year's winners for the Christmas Door Decorating Contest
Daniel of SMUD explaining the tips and tricks to a successful solar race car
The NorCal Horizon Grand Prix Teams at LCHS
Our Horizon Grand Prix (HGP) 2nd place winners...A great group of students
Our HGP Stock Car Category State Winners
Last minute repairs at our hotel at the state HGP Finals
Sac State and CRC College Tour
Daniel from SMUD preparing our freshmen for the LCHS In-House Solar Race Car Regional Qualifying Event
Our Solar Race Car Winners
All of our Solar Race Car Competitors
Our Championship Solar Regatta Team
GETA Solar Regatta Boat moored in the tullies.
The amazing GETA Regatta Presentation that earned us the Championship Cup
The Endurance Race at the Annual SMUD Solar Regatta - This photo is actually taken on Saturday after the Friday High School Competition as we competed against the College teams and tied for first in the Endurance Race with 18 total laps in 25 minutes.
Receiving Championship Honors at the SMUD Solar Regatta
Being Recognized for Excellence in Sportsmanship at the College Level Regatta Competition
Wind turbines hoisted at our LCHS Quad Wind Farm
A panoramic view of our sophomore wind farm
The breadth of our studies grows every year: Solar Charging Station, EV Charging Port and Electric Go Kart
Go Kart Sprint Champions
Our GETA Seniors at our Academy Awards Night
2018 SMUD Northern California Solar Regatta
This year's Regatta went very well (First Place in the Endurance and Third Place overall), and with one minor adjustment to the motor, we would have done even better.
A Great Morning with Good Day Sacramento
GETA Sophomores and Juniors Showcase their work (Solar Electric Go Karts and Wind Turbines) with Good Day Sacramento on May 8, 2018
2018 SMUD Solar Race Car Academic Competition Event
GETA Freshmen show very well at the 2018 SMUD Solar Race Car Competition hled at Cosumnes River College on April 18th: They starred in the Good Day Sacramento moring spot, out of 60+ team, they earned 3 of the top 8 spots and came away with top awards: Engineering and Design (The Thomas The Tank Car seen on the Good Day Sacramento Spot), The Sustainability Award for using recycled materials to create a car, and the Grit and Gumption Award for not giving up on the repair of their vehicle after numerous set-backs and mechanical issues.
Toyota Mirai and Horizon Education Host Four Hour Endurance Race: H2AC (Hydrogen Horizon Automotive Challenge)
On Saturday February 24th, 2018 our Senior and Freshmen GETA H2AC (Hydrogen Horizon Automotive Challenge) teams competed in a four hour endurance race at Craneway Pavilion in Richmond, CA. The 1:10 scale RC cars are hydrogen and battery powered and compete to complete as many laps as possible in four hours but are limited by battery capacity and amount of available hydrogen. Our senior team finished 2nd and the freshmen finished 3rd. Having a top 10 finish qualifies both teams for the State Finals held on March 10th at American River College. Check back soon to see how we finish at finals: (Update: We finished 11th and 17th at the state finals).
Our Partners and Sponsors:
...and many others who mentor, speak to, train, and encourage our students!
Some of GETA's Amazing Moments
GETA Racing their Solar- Electric Boat in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
As of 12/2017, we've sent 127 Solar Suit Cases to 25 Different Nations
GETA Accomplishments:
Articulation Agreement with Cosumnes River College for its ADT 310, 3-unit, CAD class (Capstone Course)
Internships with Lennar Homes, Regional San, Sacramento County Waste Management and Recycling, SMUD
PBCL's (Problem-Based Case Learning): Solar PV System Installation with Regional San; Hydro-Electric Power Plant Installation for The Happy Valley Dairy with SMUD;
Three Time Northern California Solar Regatta Champions
Selected to Toyota's 2017-2018 Hydrogen Horizon Hydrogen Fuel Cell RC 4-hour Endurance Race
Solar1 World Championship Racers in Monte Carlo, Monaco - July 2014
As of 12/2017, 127 Solar Suitcases sent to 25 Different Developing and/or Third World Nations
Bicycle RV's Designed and Fabricated for the Homeless of Sacramento
With MPTA (another great academy on our campus) we've built two Tiny Home's for homeless Veterans.
GETA Freshmen competing is SMUD's 2018 Solar Racer competition
All Seniors leave with OSHA 10 Certification
All Seniors will have conducted MOCK Interviews with one of our partners before they graduate.
Hosted Media Event for the role out of SB x11 with Tom Torlakson, Darryl Steinberg and Robert Weisenmiller
11/29/2017 - Submitted a Prop 51 Grant Proposal for a New Facility (Please Come Back in June 2018 to see if we are awarded these funds)
Update on the Prop 51 Grant: The scores are in and we received a 131.5/141 = 93.3%. The money has been approved and The Architects have been very busy putting our thoughts on paper. According to the timeline set this summer, we should be walking into the building August 2020.
GETA will be hosting The 2019 H2AC Northern California Regional Championships-March 9, 2019 (A 3 hour endurance RC race where the RC cars run on hydrogen and battery power.)
Some of the fun we have:
Door Decorating with Our Advocacy Classes
Getting Ready for our In-House EV Go Kart Race
Senior Camp Out
Our Sophomore Wind Farm on the Campus Quad
SunPower trip on the San Francisco Bay
Getting to know one another at our monthly Pancake Breakfasts
Eating Dinner with our Advisory Committee Members