[8][9][10][11][12] GECA was founded through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and is now solely funded by the California Department of Education.

[13] Dr. T.J. Owens, GECA's namesake, was the former dean of students at Gavilan College and president of the Gilroy Unified School Board.

[14] A prominent member of the national organization 100 Black Men of America and a civil rights activist, Owens died in 2005, two years before the early college academy was established.

[15][16] Approximately 90 percent of the class of 2011 graduated and entered a four-year university or continued their education at Gavilan College.

[13] The school's non-weighted average API from 2011 to 2013 is 929 school-wide, 900 for socioeconomically disadvantaged students, and 869 for English learners.