DUBLIN — Students at Bladen Early College High School will tell you that their rigorous classes are giving them a unique opportunity to launch them into the future well prepared.

“I was very excited when I heard they were opening up an early college in Bladen County,” Yasmine Benson said. “I wanted to have smaller classes so that I wouldn’t have to deal with as a many people and have more time to talk and work more with my teachers on my assignments.”

“I love how we are a family. Everyone gets along and we have nice relationships with our teachers.”

Those people include teachers like Chris Carroll, who teaches world history and freshman seminar.

“This was a unique opportunity,” he said. “It’s an experience in which the students, as well as faculty, have the opportunity to build something, and to build something extraordinary, not just for the students but also for Bladen County.

“I have enjoyed working with Bladen Community College along with Bladen Early College and the partnership that has been coming together. And helping our students to achieve not just their goals in education but also to empower them to become young men and young women, and developing a future for themselves.”

He says that this is giving these students a fresh start, and a new vision.

“It’s been a wonderful opportunity,” he said.

That’s a feeling that is also shared by the students, who say that their classes are fun, and that they have enjoyed the people, the teachers and the small classrooms.

“We have a lot of hands-on activities. It’s a lot of work but it’s all worth it,” said Shelby Tatum. “It’s just a lot better than a normal high school. My teachers care about us and we have our friends.”

Two of the draws for her are getting the honors classes and finishing with an associate’s degree.

“We get the work and the community,” she said. “My sister was in the dual enrollment at West Bladen. I had wanted to do the dual enrollment when I got to West Bladen, but when this opportunity came up I thought this was really cool.”

The feeling that the program was a worthwhile investment was also shared by student Diego Lara.

“Ever since the presentation that Principal Rodney Smith gave us at Tar Heel Middle School where I was, it had looked like a great opportunity to have a better future,” he said. “In a normal high school you really don’t see as much as he presented.”

For Lara that extra nurturing seemed more genuine and the classes seemed more advanced.

“I want that,” he said. “That seems like something for me. He gave us a list of things that we could get here. I want to be a robotic engineer. I saw something, and I am not sure what it was, but it fit in that category.”

He said he came and that he really liked it, and the teachers care for them, and that the teachers show it.

“Every teacher individually shows you that they care, about you and your grade,” Lara said. “And since the classes are small there’s not really many distractions. It’s very rare for distractions to be here. That’s another thing I like. In middle school there is always distractions.”

Smith, the principal, says the smaller class size is advantageous.

“The classes are more hands on,” he said. “You will feel nurtured.”

One of the special classes is freshman seminar, which the staff says is one of the classes that teaches them life and study skills among other things.

“We want them to be able to speak and articulate, and communicate,” Smith added.

“I’m here mostly to get my associate’s degree when I graduate,” said Nadiya Virden. “So when I go to a four-year university I will only have to do two more years.

Virden said that she was contemplating going to UNC Wilmington for nursing after she finishes, and maybe go to Duke University for medical school afterwards. She say that her favorite thing has been working with the teachers since there is more one-on-one time.

“It’s not 30 kids in a class,” she said. “So we understand better and do more group work and projects. It’s very interesting.”

Emily M. Williams | Bladen Journal
Staff and students are excited about the challenges presented at the Bladen Early College High School. Front from left are Shelby Tatum, Nadiya Virden, Yasmine Benson and Diego Lara; back, from left, are Rodney Smith, Chris Carroll, Elizabeth Sanders, Mary McLean Smith, Dr. Robin Donaldson and Nicole Dove.
https://www.bladenjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_BECHSgroup.jpgEmily M. Williams | Bladen Journal
Staff and students are excited about the challenges presented at the Bladen Early College High School. Front from left are Shelby Tatum, Nadiya Virden, Yasmine Benson and Diego Lara; back, from left, are Rodney Smith, Chris Carroll, Elizabeth Sanders, Mary McLean Smith, Dr. Robin Donaldson and Nicole Dove.

Emily M. Williams | Bladen Journal
Bladen Early College High School student Niadiya Virden sat in English honors 2, soaking in the classroom experience. Virden wants to have her associate’s degree when she graduates.
https://www.bladenjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_BECHS3.jpgEmily M. Williams | Bladen Journal
Bladen Early College High School student Niadiya Virden sat in English honors 2, soaking in the classroom experience. Virden wants to have her associate’s degree when she graduates.

Emily M. Williams | Bladen Journal
Students focus on listening to Mary McLean Smith in classes last week. Yasmine Benson (teal shirt) said she loved how the students and teachers felt like a family.
https://www.bladenjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_BECHS2.jpgEmily M. Williams | Bladen Journal
Students focus on listening to Mary McLean Smith in classes last week. Yasmine Benson (teal shirt) said she loved how the students and teachers felt like a family.

Emily M. Williams

Bladen Journal

Want to go?

Students wanting to enroll in Bladen Early College High School for 2019-20 can call the school at 910-876-6654 or email Principal Rodney Smith at rwsmith@bladen.k12.nc.us. The deadline is Feb. 22.

Emily M. Williams can be reached at 910-247-9133 or ewilliams@bladenjournal.com.