Students who are looking to apply for Sampson Early College High School (SECHS), your time is limited — applications must be in to the school before the deadline of October 31.

“Students need to apply when they are in their eighth grade year,” said Sampson Early College High School principal Dr. Linda Jewell Carr. “The process is that the student will submit an application (by Oct. 31) and then the student and the parent will come in for an interview. But they will have to sign up for an interview time.”

Sampson Early College High School, located on Sampson Community College Campus, is a school of choice for high school in Sampson County, serving Sampson County School and Clinton City School students since 2005. SECHS graduates will earn their high school diploma and an associate degree or two years of college credit in a rigorous college environment while attending high school.

Carr said that the interview process with the student is conducted by a college and early college high school personnel. “What the student says in that interview is documented any typed verbatim and then we collect information from the school (the student was enrolled in),” she said. “We are looking at what their seventh grade report cards have on them and what is said about the kind of student they are. Attendance is important, as well as discipline. Since we are on a college campus it is really important that we don’t accept students who have major discipline issues, because they are expected to be really mature. We also get testing information— not as a way of accepting them or denying them— just for informational purposes.”

All students are notified by mid-January if they made it in, are being put on a waiting list, or who was not accepted.

“Each year we generally have 100 applicants for roughly 50 spots,” said Carr. “Because we do not offer the opportunity to participate in sports or band, every year, we have had a ratio of seven females to three males — that has been consistent every year, which is pretty interesting. I think it is because they can’t participate in band or sports. I think that is one of the big things that people are still trying to grasp. They say, where do they go to high school then? This is their high school.”

Which does lead to some confusion about applying to the school.

“That is something that we seem to struggle with every year,” said Carr. “Because we get calls every year in January (after the students get their acceptance letters) and it is like, ‘Oh, I want to do that ...’ But it is too late then, that is why the deadline is always set for October 31.”

Carr said the school has hosted several Parent Night meetings around the county that have been helpful.

“The students also take college classes in their first year,” she said. “They take a computer course and a college success course as a freshman here. If they come out to the Parent Night’s — they already know a lot of information. So, we really encourage anyone thinking about coming or applying here to come out to a Parent Night.”

The next two meetings will be at Roseboro-Salemburg Middle School on Oct. 19; and then at Union Middle on Oct. 15. Both meetings will begin at 6 p.m.

“Everyone is invited to come out,” said Carr. “You don’t have to be a student at that school. If you missed the others we held and want to check it out, come on out — it is very informative.”

In addition, Carr said that the school will also allow a student to job shadow at the school to see if the environment will suit them. “But only with the approval of their current principal,” she said.

The end of this school year will be bittersweet for Carr — it will mark the school’s first graduating class.

“The whole time it has been a school of firsts,” said Carr. “ It is very exciting because these students will actually go through their college graduation and then two weeks later, have their high school graduation. Every day is so exciting and different and I just enjoy being part of it.”

The early college program receives funding through Learn and Earn and is supported by the New Schools Project, the Department of Public Instruction, the N.C. General Assembly, and the State Board of Education.

For more information on the school call (910) 592-8081 ext. 6003 or click on to www.sampsoncc.edu/SECHS-Home.asp.

To reach Doug Clark call 910-592-8137 ext. 123 or send e-mail to sisports@myclintonnc.com.