UPPER LAKE, Calif. – Thanks to a newly awarded state grant, Upper Lake High School is embarking on an effort to educate a new generation of green technology specialists and sustainable farmers.

The school’s administration successfully applied for a California Partnership Academy and Renewable Energy Grant for 2011-12 from the California Department of Education.

Upper Lake High was among 21 schools in the state to receive the funding, according to Patrick Iaccino, Upper Lake High’s principal and superintendent.

Iaccino called getting the grant – which focuses on alternative energy and sustainable agriculture – “unbelievable.”

“We’re really excited about it because it really is going to provide our kids with some opportunities, we believe, down the road,” Iaccino said.

According to grant documents, SBX1 1, a bill that passed the California Legislature this year, provides support for the development and operation of “California Partnership Academies” to prepare students for careers in the clean technology and renewable energy fields.

Among the industry sectors identified in the grant application as most aligned with SBX1 1’s intent are agriculture and natural resources, building trades and construction, energy and utilities, engineering and design, manufacturing and product development, transportation, and marketing, sales and services.

Upper Lake High School has received a $15,000 planning grant, which Iaccino said will be used to plan how to structure an academy to prepare students for clean technology and sustainable agriculture jobs.

The grant wants recipient schools to try to have between 120 and 150 students involved in the academy over a three- to four-year period, Iaccino said.

For every student enrolled in the academy, the school receives $1,000, for a maximum amount of $45,000 in the first year, $80,000 in the second, $120,000 in the third year and $150,000 in the fourth year, according to grant documents. The funding is available through 2017.

Iaccino said he worked with John Woods, the school’s science department chair, and agriculture teacher Erica Boomer to put together the grant application.

The application was helped by the support letters written by about 20 businesses, organizations and individuals, Iaccino said.

Among those who wrote in support of the proposal were Mendocino College, the Lake County Office of Education and Lake County District 3 Supervisor Denise Rushing, he said.

Rushing, who has worked in clean tech for most of her adult life, said that up until now there has not been a focused clean technology training/job preparation program in California schools, which have been focused on college preparation and standardized testing, not vocational preparation.

She said that educational gap has been filled at the high technology end by the industry itself, with the advantage going to the very large companies who can build training campuses.

In addition, the Solar Living Center in Hopland has trained small scale operators and individuals in skills ranging from solar design and installation to ecological gardening, training programs that community colleges recently have begun to offer, she said.

Rushing said the grant is significant for Lake County, and it offers students a chance to prepare for an industry that she said is going to continue to grow.

The grant also will benefit the county, further positioning Lake County – which in recent years has won Green California leadership awards for innovation and solar infrastructure – as a leader in developing the state’s green economy, Rushing said.

The community support Upper Lake High received in making its grant application, along with the feasibility of having a four-year college locate at the Lucerne Hotel – where Marymount College is working with the county on an agreement to locate a campus – has created an atmosphere of optimism for Upper Lake’s educators.

Iaccino said the school believes they can create a program to prepare students for successful, and well paying, careers.

The grant arrives as the school has been putting together a school farm and community garden on a two-acre section at the back of the campus. Iaccino said they just put in a well for the farm and garden this year.

Iaccino believes the academy will eventually serve up to 50 percent of the school’s 330 students.

That high of a percentage of involvement appeared to intrigue the state, Iaccino said.

As part of the planning, Iaccino said he, Woods, Boomer and Upper Lake High’s head counselor, Rebecca Carter, will travel to Sacramento for a training that takes place Feb. 12-15.

When they get back from the training, Iaccino said they will start to piece the academy together.

Part of their planning will involve visiting Lucerne Elementary School and Upper Lake Middle School, where Iaccino said they will talk to eighth graders about their interests.

The goal is to roll out the academy in the next school year, involving not just incoming freshmen but some sophomores, Iaccino said.

Another program goal is to have students in their senior year fulfill an internship with a local agricultural or clean technology business or organization, Iaccino said.

Woods teaches classes on the environment and biology, and Iaccino said Woods is interested in alternative energy from an environmental perspective. “We’re going to try to marry the two if we can.”

Scheduling will be a challenge, with freshmen and sophomores at the school – who already are required to take two to three science courses – only getting one elective in each of those years. Iaccino said Carter will help figure out how to put the schedules together.

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