Challenger Early College High School

Challenger Early College High School is a public secondary school in Hickory, North Carolina, United States. Challenger Early College High School is ranked the top high school in Catawba County.

Challenger Early College High School
Address
2550 Highway 70 SE Hickory , Catawba , North Carolina 28602 United States
Coordinates	35°41′57″N 81°17′15″W
Information
School type	Public
Motto	Building College-Ready Lifelong Learners
Opened	2005-2006
Status	Open
School district	Catawba County Schools
NCES School ID	370069002753
Principal	Heather Benfield
Grades	9-13
Enrollment	390 (10/18/2012)
• Grade 9	98
• Grade 10	101
• Grade 11	88
• Grade 12	72
Student to teacher ratio	23:1
Colour(s)	Purple and silver
Mascot	Phoenix
College Liaison	Debbie Austin
Website	www.catawbaschools.net/schools/Challenger/default.aspx

History

Challenger Early College High School was established in August 2005 as a joint project of the Catawba Valley Education Consortium, including Catawba County Schools, Alexander County Schools, Hickory City Schools, Newton-Conover City Schools, and Catawba Valley Community College.

Applications

At the end of 8th grade, about 300 students from Alexander County and Catawba County apply to Challenger Early College High School. From the pool of students that apply, one-hundred students are accepted with consideration to level of education attained by their parents, family socio-economic status, ethnicity population at national and state universities, single-parent home status, teacher recommendations for success in an accelerated program, and a personal essay written by the student in a supervised session.

Organization

Vision

The vision of Challenger Early College High School is to prepare students for college, careers, and life in the 21st Century by virtue of and commitment to full fidelity to the early college model and design principles.

Mission

The motto of Challenger Early College High School is "Building College-Ready, Lifelong Learners." When enrolled into the program, students are given the opportunity to earn a High School's Diploma and an Associate's degree. However, if they fail two classes (whether college, high school or a combination) they have to go in front of the Matriculation Review Board. The Matriculation Review Board may impose a probation, loss of ability to complete the AA degree, or force students to go back to their traditional high school. However, all students have an opportunity to earn both a High School Diploma and an Associate's degree.

Learning Programs

In an effort to fulfill the vision of Challenger Early College High School, multiple programs are incarnated into the learning environment to ensure that students are prepared for college, careers, and life in the 21st century.

21st Century Skills

21st Century Skills is a growing education movement towards teaching students using with new and creative approaches rather than traditional ways. The framework for 21st Century Skills propose not only including core subjects (i.e., English, mathematics, science, etc.), but also 21st century content, learning and thinking skills, ICT literacy, and life skills. Challenger Early College High School incorporates this through Global Impact and Connections, which are required classes. In these classes, students learn about global awareness, critical-thinking, problem-solving, communication skills, collaboration skills, etc. However, the core of 21st Century Skills is the assessment design. Students constantly write reflections and assess their own progress in their learning. Also, the school uses school-wide rubrics based on 21st Century Skills to ensure that students are working on these skills throughout their entire high school career.

Framework for 21st Century Learning

Habits of Mind

As of August 2012, Challenger Early College High School adopted the Habits of Mind Program. The Habits of Mind include sixteen habits that students are expected to regularly be working on.

NCNSP Common Instructional Framework

Challenger Early College High School follows the NCNSP Common Insturctional Framework, which uses skills such as collaborative group work, classroom talk, scaffolding, questioning, literacy groups, and the process of writing to learn.

Extracurricular Activities

Challenger Early College High School holds a lot of extracurricular activities that are eligible to students.

Clubs

Challenger Early College High School has multiple clubs that students participate in.

Academic/Service Clubs

• Beta Club
• Key Club

Dance Clubs

• Hip Hop Club
• Raza Latina Club

Other Clubs

• International Club
• Math Team
• Student Government Association
• Firebots (robotics team)

Performing Arts

Challenger Early College High School offers multiple performing arts programs.

• Concert Band
• Jazz Band
• Chorus
• Firebird Chorale
• Drama Club

Sports

Multiple sports are carried out at Challenger Early College High School throughout the school year.

Fall Sports

• Co-Ed Varsity Soccer
• Women's Tennis
• Varsity Volley Ball
• Jr. Varsity Volley Ball

Winter Sports

• Men's Basketball
• Women's Basketball
• Cheerleading

Spring Sports

• Men's Tennis
• Softball
• Women's Track & Field
• Men's Track & Field

Graduation Requirements

Besides the normal class requirements, Challenger Early College High School students are also expected to do fifty hours of community service. Also, they are expected to present in front of a panel of community evaluators an ePortfolio that shows their high-school learning career and the skills they developed. As a parent-involvement program, parents are required to attend at least five meetings and volunteer four hours every year.