Welcome to the EcoTeams

Thank you for your interest in the manufacturing program at Granite Falls High School. We are currently
seeking partners to invest in our unique and focused Eco Car project—and in the future of manufacturing—as we aspire to facilitate careers in engineering, manufacturing and related disciplines.

What are we about? In the summer of 2009, Michael Werner, the class educator, brought together an
all-girls team (ShopGirls) and a co-ed team (UrbanAutos) to design, craft, and complete two competitive fuel efficient vehicles in a 7 month period to compete in the Shell Eco-marathon Americas (hosted in Houston, TX). Mr. Werner has experience with endurance race cars, antique airplane restoration and educating students in the manual arts.

Both of our teams have managed each aspect of this real-world project, designing and building their
individual cars to be as fuel efficient as possible. For the first two years, we arrived before the regular school day for an extra class at 6:30 AM and spent countless hours after school and on weekends. Our initial project won accolades (and prize money) in Houston, as did our new-and-improved vehicles in 2011.

Since the 2011 race, we’ve reorganized our program, changing the meeting time from six thirty in the
morning, to two-ten in the afternoon. However, our late starting time doesn’t have any effect on our spectacular work ethic, drive to succeed, and desire to teach the community about the future of fuel efficiency. Our successes and our failures over the past year have renewed our desire to return for the 2012 race with our best vehicles yet.