Times-Journal Writer

After a year of discussions, planning and developing partnerships, the Selma City School System announced Friday that its Selma Early College High School program is finally ready to get off the ground.

The launching pad for the program will be in the second floor of Selma High School beginning this January.

According Irene Smith of the Selma City School System, five teachers and a guidance counselor will work with around 100 students to ensure they not only receive their high school diploma, but two years of college credit as well.

By the time these select few students graduate from Selma High School, they will be considered college juniors or receive an Associate of Arts degree.

During a town hall forum on the Wallace Community College Selma campus Friday evening, Dr. Michael Webb, director of the National Early College High School Initiative, told students and parents that a college degree is almost a requirement in obtaining a good job.

“The opportunity you have today is a remarkable one,” Webb told the audience. “This is about creating an opportunity for young people to get the training they need and requires high school and college faculty to work together in ways they never had before.”

The Selma Early College High School was created out of partnership between the school system, Wallace Community College Selma, Alabama State University and Tuskegee University.

It is being funded through a $400,000 grant from a math and science alliance known SECME.

An admissions committee will be responsible for selecting ninth-grade students to participate in the program from a pool of applicants.

Students in the Selma Early College High School must meet the criteria of being financially disadvantaged, highly motivated, and whose parents never went to college.

Dr. Shaik Jeelani, vice president for Research and Sponsored Programs at Tuskegee University, said the university played a role in creating this program for the city school system and he hopes to see its graduates attend Tuskegee.

“Tuskegee has already contributed a lot to the curriculum, and you will be in and out of our labs and campus,” Jeelani told the students at the forum. “On graduation day, we will be at the door handing out 100 admission letters from Tuskegee.”

Superintendent Dr. James Carter said this program means a lot to him because “it is about the children.”

“We need to give more of our young people a chance to go to college,” he said. “The Black Belt has been in the dark for too long, and now it is our day to have sunshine.”

The targeted career occupations for students in the Selma Early College High School program will be agribusiness, Ag engineering, Aquaculture, Chemistry, Engineering, Technology, Nana Technology, and Computer Science.