A look at NERSBA: The state’s only regional early college

The welding bays in Justin Nichols’ classroom have local jobs listed on them in dry erase marker. The notes include stats for the available welding jobs like hourly wage, weekly wage, title, and the required tests a potential employee would have to pass in order to qualify for the position.

Nichols, the scribe, is a part-time welding instructor at the Northeast Regional School of Biotechnology and Agriscience, or NERSBA, for short. Students suit up, then light up with these well paying jobs written on the makeshift walls beside them.

Nichols has worked in the region’s welding industry and instructed at both Pitt Community College and Martin Community College. He still works at the latter, as well as NERSBA. Listing the jobs on the workspaces is one way he tries to motivate the students at this unique early college in Jamesville, North Carolina.

NERBSA way back when

NERSBA is one of the state’s 138 cooperative innovative high schools, often called early colleges, but it is the only regional one of its kind in North Carolina. NERSBA is independent from any district and students who live in Martin, Washington, Tyrrell, or Pitt Counties can attend. NERSBA opened in 2012 at a time when there were no other early colleges in those counties. The school serves students in grades nine to 13. Until 2019, students from Beaufort County were also eligible to attend the early college. In the years since NERSBA’s inception, districts from participating county have launched early college programs within their own districts.

According to NERSBA’s website, they are a regional early college with “a foundation of biotechnology and agriscience,” that aims to “provide scholars with innovative curricula, instruction, and project-based learning.” The school has always used the Future Farmer’s of America (FFA) for leadership development and student opportunity.

Originally the school was located at the Vernon James Center in Plymouth. NERSBA moved to its own campus, the previous Jamesville High School building in 2014. The NERSBA Board of Directors includes local business leaders and members from each serving county’s school board.

The present with Principal Lisa Smith

Lisa Smith worked in education for 24 years before becoming NERSBA’s principal in 2024. She has a standing desk with wheels on it and often she takes to the hallways, making herself available to anyone. “In a small campus, we wear many hats,” Smith said.

According to DPI and Smith, there were around 140 students enrolled at the start of the 2025-26 school year. NERSBA still honors it’s longstanding history with the FFA, so all students are still members of the FFA, but the level of participation is up to each individual student. The school’s curriculum has expanded beyond the original STEM focus. If a student is interested in a specific course, the school works to provide the class through one of its main educational partners, Martin Community College or the University of Mount Olive.

Students can take classes virtually at those institutions and in some cases, like Nichols’, instructors from the colleges come to NERSBA and teach on campus. If one of its partners doesn’t offer the pathway a student is interested in, the school looks to Beaufort and Pitt Community Colleges for the classes.

We want students to find the best path for them, and that’s different for everybody.

— Lisa Smith, principal at NERSBA

For Smith, the traditional elements of high school and the curriculum benefits of an early college make NERSBA special, in addition to it’s widespread reach in the region.

Students have physical education and access to a gymnasium. There is also a greenhouse and the CTE (career and technical education) garage where welding and other trade classes take place. 

Classes are small and catered to students, though faculty try to provide new pathways if interest arises. Since students from different counties are brought together at the school, by design, NERSBA is expanding its students’ social network.

“I think a lot of people don’t realize what a great opportunity (NERSBA) is,” said Smith.