Lafayette Parish Schools hope more students decide to join the Early College Academy. Right now 190 students are enrolled in the program that allow students to attend college and high school at the same time.
At the end of the four years of school on the SLCC campus, they will not only graduate with their high school diploma but also an Associate of Arts Degree from the community college. Tucker Robinson is a freshman in the program and is excited for what it could bring.
"It's kind of cool because I get to interact with juniors and seniors and then the college kids, so I get sort of the advice they can give me."
Adairre Castille is also a freshmen. She echoes Robinson's excitement and is looking forward to how this will shape her future.
"All the people here are like me, like we're all focused on the same things. Everyone knows what they want to do and how they are going to get there. I have two college credit classes right now and I'm really excited because the combination should help me more so when I take actual college classes."
"It is one of those programs that we can really be proud of. It's an A high school, we don't have any other A high schools. It's a jewel in the system," Superintendent of Lafayette Parish Schools Dr. Pat Cooper says.
He wants to see extreme growth in the program over the next two years. He hopes to see 1000 students enrolled, and then move on to even bigger goals.
"We want to build a facility right here on the campus of the community college to house this high school. So we can have these huge numbers of students who can take advantage of this program."