Information about our Athletics Program

Challenger Early College High School is the only early college high school in the State of North Carolina - perhaps in the entire United States - with its own interscholastic sports program. As an independent sports program, we currently offer volleyball, soccer, basketball, cheerleading, baseball and softball. 

The early college was originally conceived as an academics-only school, with no extracurricular activities except maybe a few student clubs. But at CHS, we believe that lifelong health and athleticism is part of being ready for college, careers, and life in the 21st Century. We believe that being chosen fro the honor of attending this accelerated program ought to include enjoying all the fun and memorable things about their high school years. And so from the start, we have made this pledge: if the students want it and will commit to it, and if their parents support it, financially and otherwise, then we will do our best to find a way to do it. The very first parent meeting of the very first year we opened, in August, 2005, resulted in the formation of a boys' soccer team and a girls' volleyball team, and we've been growing ever since. 

Operating a high school sports program is enormously expensive. Traditional high schools typically rely on the revenue brought in by ticket sales at their home football games to fund their whole year of athletics, in all sports. The early college doesn't have a football team, however, so we are forced to raise every single penny in support of the program through fundraising activities. Because of this great level of expense and because the only way our kids can play is through parent assistance, the PSO has requested that students and parents participate in additional fundraising activities.
Note: Additional fees are also possible, including the need to buy appropriate equipment and/or apparel. 

In addition to possible financial obligations, we strongly encourage all parents to help out by attending the games, volunteering to work the gate at the games, and/or volunteering to work at the concession stand during the games.