Courtesy Fifty-five Chapel Hill ISD students will be in the first class of early college high school students on the campus. The school district, in partnership with Tyler Junior College, will launch Chapel Hill Collegiate this fall.

 Fifty-five Chapel Hill ISD eighth-graders got the first taste of college life last month when Tyler Junior College welcomed them to the fold.

On May 28, TJC recognized the inaugural class of Chapel Hill Collegiate, the region’s first early college high school and the 50th in the state.

An early college high school is a school that allows students to earn an associate’s degree or 60 college credit hours while in high school.

Chapel Hill and TJC have worked for two years to start this program, which will launch this fall, according to an email from TJC spokesman Fred Peters.

About 130 Chapel Hill students applied to be in the first class of ninth-graders to participate in the program. Less than half of those were selected.

The program will start in late July with a four-day academic camp at Chapel Hill High School.

Eligible students could start taking TJC courses as high school freshmen, according to the news release.

“We are all in this together,” Chapel Hill High School assistant principal Karen Bender said, according to a news release. “It takes a village, and we have one powerful village.”

TJC Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Juan E. Mejia welcomed the students to the program during the event, encouraging them and their families to work hard and have high expectations.