The Richmond Early College High School will be making school visits and holding parent information nights in the coming weeks to let eighth graders and their families know about the opportunity it offers, and that the deadline for applications is fast-approaching.

The program is in its second year, and allows students the opportunity to get a four-year high school degree and a two-year associate degree in five years, without having to pay a dime for college.

“They start here in the ninth grade, and they go through the 13th year,” Early College Principal Lawanda Walker said. “All their courses are offered right here on (RCC’s) campus. We are one of the high schools, with our own staff of teachers, counselors and career development, and these students also take college courses.”

She explained the students still meet all of the state’s standards for graduation, but only have 12 to 14 students per classroom and take college courses for electives.

Early college SGA President Jeremy Butler said the program intrigued him because of the free college degree, and the fact it was more of a challenge.

“Middle school didn’t really seem like a challenge to me,” he said. “When I came out here, I actually got to pick my brain.”

He said he’s gotten more than he expected from the program.

“Once we got out here, we really created a family. It’s kind of a joke we tell, that we created a family tree with Ms. Walker on top,” he said. “The closeness you have with each student, in middle school, I couldn’t tell you 50 people that I knew, but here you have that closeness with just about everybody. You can feel it, with the students, and with the teachers, you can feel it.”

In addition to the other early college students, he said he’s also befriended some of the college students he sits alongside in sociology, psychology and history classes.

“Another big thing about this school is it really matures you in a way ... it gave me the kind of responsibilities that have helped me to blossom - my mother’s even said that,” he said.

“I think coming out here makes us more of an individual, and I just think it’s a great opportunity academically,” said student Sierra Vandermark.

She said she’s also benefited from the one-on-one instruction time afforded by smaller class sizes.

“They treat us like adults here, and we’re around more adults, so it just kind of helps us to become better students and better people,” she said.

“I am their counselor the whole five years they’re here,” said College Liaison Kari Edmondson. “I help them along with Ms. Reed their career development teacher, picking the path they want to take and the career they want.”

She said students can take up mechanical engineering, business administration or transfer courses, but it can be hard to ask a 14 or 15-year old student what they want to do with their life.

She tries to encourage them to follow their interests.

“Some of our students, the main thing I get from them is the smaller classes, the fewer people,” she said. “They really like that, and I think it’s the beginning thing that really draws them here in the first place ... and a lot of them know that this may be the only chance they will get to get a college education.

“We have some really smart students, but a lot of them, their parents may not be able to afford to send them to college. Even at this young age, they really understand that.”

In the career development classroom Thursday, students broke off into three small groups of three to five to do their work.

“We do a lot of work in small groups,” teacher Gwendolyn Reed said. “Our students seem more mature than you’d expect a student of their age to be.”

The application deadline for the early college is March 27, and Walker said there is competition for spots.

“We’ve had as many as 90 people apply, and we’ll accept around 50,” she said.

Parent information nights will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in room 102 of the Grimsley Building at RCC on Feb. 23 for Rockingham Middle students, Feb. 24 for students of Ellerbe and Rohanen middle schools and Leak Street High School and Feb. 26 for Hamlet Middle students.

In addition, early college officials will visit these high schools to talk to students during the school day on other dates.

Students will be accepted in June.