[4] At the end of 8th grade, about 300 students from 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.

[5] Challenger Early College High School offers multiple performing arts programs.

[6] Besides the normal class requirements, Challenger Early College High School students are also expected to do fifty hours of community service.

They are also expected to present an ePortfolio that showcases their high-school learning career and the skills they developed to a panel of community evaluators.