Many schools in the Bruns­wick County School district are heavily involved with competi­tion-based sports. With options such as football, cheerleading, soccer, and basketball, who wouldn’t be able to find a sense of community?

BCECHS is a small innovative high school on the Brunswick Community Col­lege campus that allows students to simul­taneously take high school and college classes so they can graduate with both a high school diploma and an Associate’s de­gree in 4 or 5 years. The school is primarily art and science based.

While they do have a sports club, it is not competition- based like many of the school sports in other high school environments. Instead, it is based on what sport the ma­jority of the club wants to play at the time. “Our school does not funnel resources into sport and competition-based opportunities, instead we are pushed to explore opportuni­ties based on our interests. We do not have to worry about our access to the material we would be using because it is provided by the school/outside sponsors. We are also not deferred based on our abilities because everyone here has equal opportunity to learn and improve,” says Sam, member of Art club, BETA, journalism.

These differences have led to greater di­versity in students and more opportunities for self-expression and school-sanctioned programs to support the students’ inter­ests. “We are given more opportunities to explore our interests, and more say in the activities that our school has access to. Oth­er schools do not care about their student base as much as BCECHS. We are treated as equals, “says sophomore Katie Cooper, member of the theater club.

Most of these programs are clubs, which take place every other Friday and give stu­dents the opportunity to explore many of their passions for school credit. This also gives them an opportunity to win compe­titions, display their hard work, and find community in the things they enjoy.

Examples of these clubs include, Botany, Tea Club, Musicians Club, Theater, Film, and Culinary. Most clubs offered will also have an opportunity to further their educa­tion through scholarship opportunities, in-house programs, and traveling.