Jackson County Early College

Jackson County Early College is a public high school located in Sylva, North Carolina. It opened as an alternative to Smoky Mountain High School in 2008 for those students willing to put in extra work to also earn a community college 2-year degree along with their High School Diploma. Jackson County Early College is a part of the Jackson County School System. It serves as an extension of Smoky Mountain High School, with Students being able to participate in Smoky Mountain Extracurricular activities, such as Marching Band, Indoor Percussion, Jazz Band, Sports, and some Clubs. It was originally located in Oaks Hall on the Southwestern Community College Campus in Webster, NC, where quarters were tight due to the increasing enrollment of the Early College and Southwestern Community College, but it moved in the Fall of 2010 to a building with eight classrooms built by the county for the student's High School Classes, to get them out of the college buildings. This has also allowed for the ability of the enrollment to go up to over 100. The Early College also relieves pressure from Smoky Mountain High School, which at one time boasted a little over 900 students, but has dropped down to a more manageable size of around 780 students.