This fall, 120 freshmen in Grapevine-Colleyville ISD's new Collegiate Academy will start in classes that will count toward both a high school diploma and an associate's degree from Tarrant County College.

The newly minted GCISD Collegiate Academy—a collaboration between TCC and GCISD that began developing in 2013—is a first for the district and a program that director Bobbe Knutz said is sure to change the lives of the students involved. It generated enough buzz within the district's eighth-grade classes that Knutz had more applications than seats. More than 15 percent of the district's roughly 1,000 eighth-graders filed to enroll.

"We got 157 applications to an idea, not a school," Knutz said.

Those students went through an interview process Knutz described as rigorous but not focused on test scores and grades, specifically.

"All we need is kids with grit," Knutz said. "This is designed to bridge the gap with students who didn't necessarily think of themselves as college-bound. We told the students, 'Tell me why you want to go here. How are you going to be successful?' They have to have the will to make a commitment to do it."

When TCC approached GCISD about the project, Knutz said it was a natural partnership that TCC has facilitated since its inception, including providing space and technology. The first dual-credit offerings will be in music appreciation and speech, Knutz said, and college-readiness courses will also be a part of the curriculum early on.

Knutz, who has experience as both a former assistant principal and as a teacher in middle school and high school, said the enthusiasm for the program has grown quickly for the families whose students are involved. At a special event in early May, more than 70 families were on hand to support their students. The students, who come from schools throughout GCISD, already think of themselves as a new unit, Knutz said.

"We're on this adventure together," she said.

Students come from all the demographics in GCISD, not any one socioeconomic or race category, Knutz said.

"It's a broad spectrum," Knutz said. "Not just one walk of life. It's going to be a small school, not a school for some students, but it will be a school of choice for some."