The 100 Selma High ninth-graders inside Wallace Community College Selma’s Earl Goodwin Theater on Friday afternoon were so quiet that the only sounds coming from the room was the occasional crinkling of paper.

All of the students had their heads bent down, furiously scribbling away on their test sheets.

It was an important moment for each of them.

This particular test would define how these students would be taught for the rest of the year.

These ninth-graders are the select few to be chosen for the Selma City School System’s new Early College High School program.

Created through a partnership with SECME – a national alliance that partners K-12 educators with universities, government and industry agents – the ECHS program offers under-served students an opportunity to earn a post-secondary education while still in high school.

Irene Smith, director of school system’s ECHS, said the program begins Jan. 18.

The test students took Friday was to assess how well they are doing in school and help teachers design individual education plans tailored to each students’ needs.

“We are every excited about this,” Smith said. “This is a big moment for us.”

Smith said ECHS would operate as a “school within a school,” with the 100 ninth-graders isolated to the second floor of Selma High and taking college-prep courses.

Every Friday the students will be taking classes with regular college students at Wallace Community College Selma.

Smith said WCCS, along with Tuskegee University and Alabama State University, are partners in the ECHS program.

“There are four teachers and a guidance counselor (in the ECHS) program,” Smith said. “We plan to add more faculty as the program grows.”

By the time they graduate from high school, Smith said, these students will have earned an Associate’s degree or two years of college credit towards a baccalaureate.

This summer, while their peers are on a break from school, ECHS students will be continuing their college education by attending “Summer Bridge” programs at Tuskegee University, Penn State, and North Carolina University.

“This is a 12-month program,” Smith said. “They are actually going to be living on these college campuses and getting the whole college experience. They will even have an opportunity to get some college credit.”

WCCS President Dr. James Mitchell said he is excited to have the college a part of the program.

“This is a historic moment for Selma,” he said. “We are the first to have this type of program in the state and I’m glad to be in partnership with SECME and the Selma School System.”