College level calculus, physics and engineering might sound tough enough after high school, but some Rock Hill students tackle that work years earlier.

And they're doing this while they're juggling sports and tests, clubs, and of course, teenage life.

Well, my colleague, videographer John Branscum and I show you how a classroom at South Pointe High School challenges young minds and helps shape big dreams.

(bell rings) Colorful pieces snap together, forming molecules while curious hands turn chemistry lessons into something students can actually touch.

- Carbon dioxide.

- [Dara] Calculators crunch equations while pencils fill notebooks, and laptops carry college coursework, all before these students collect their high school diplomas.

- And then the last thing- - [Dara] For senior Hampton Woods, the dream of flight started early.

Before he finished elementary school, airplanes had already captured his imagination.

- Ever since a young age, maybe around five or six, I've been interested in aviation and airplanes.

- [Dara] Years later, that childhood fascination now meets physics, calculus, and engineering through Accelerant.

- [Teacher] If we know these vertical distance- - [Dara] A governor's school program that connects students to live instructors through video.

- But I wanted to take more of a academic risk and challenge myself.

- [Dara] The teachers may appear through a screen, but Jamesa Mickles keeps a watchful eye inside this classroom, tracking assignments, grades, and the students she says feel like family.

- They become my children, even though I have a senior here myself.

- [Dara] She also knows affection can complete a college assignment.

- Now to see them as seniors and the way they buckle down because it is an engineering program, I'm really excited when I can actually see the growth.

- [Dara] That care doesn't lower the bar.

A virtual whiteboard warns about tomorrow's test while a note taped to the wall spells out arrival times.

Small reminders that success here demands discipline.

- I wouldn't try to bookmark some of those pages.

- [Dara] Students can earn up to 32 college credit hours through Coker University.

Sophomores, juniors, and seniors tackle advanced coursework.

Junior Anna Raymond arrived already drawn toward biology and medicine.

Then a lab introduced another possibility.

- We had a lab at USC and that like really opened up the whole engineering field because I was pretty dead set on doing like medical.

- [Dara] Now, she pictures a career that could connect both worlds.

- So I would try like to do engineering and tie in medicine and like how to make it better.

- [Dara] In today's class, a red filament spool unwinds while the 3D printer builds designs layer after layer, giving digital creations weight, shape, and something students can hold.

- [Hampton] Actually, the project we're working on for the next couple of weeks is something we can 3D print as well.

- [Dara] A student prize of finished red creation from the printer, a small object, but a tangible reminder that an idea can leave a computer screen and land right in their hands.

What happens in this classroom goes beyond a grade.

Students aren't just learning about engineering, they're actually having the opportunity to develop skills that'll help them in their futures.

Junior Lucas Watson already imagines putting those skills to work for someone else.

- And I realized engineering would be a path for me to do that.

And one other thing, I realized I could help people, you know, live better like with prosthetics and other stuff.

- [Dara] His vision stretches beyond a career or paycheck.

- I'd also like to figure out ways to just help people get more food, water, and just like help people build up to where like other well-off countries are.

- [Dara] Principal Dr.

Valerie Williams sees more than students when she looks through these classroom doors.

She sees future leaders.

- To see students that are so focused and to see future salutatorians and valedictorians and business leaders and doctors right here.

- [Dara] Williams says enrollment has grown during her five years leading South Pointe, but she wants more families to discover the opportunity.

- It's something that just truly makes me proud.

Not only is proud as a principal here, but just proud as a parent.

- [Dara] The work demands a lot, long hours, Saturday labs, and the same tests, practices, and deadlines facing every high school student.

But with each problem they solve and each idea they bring to life, they're building more than college credits.

They're building the confidence to look at a complex problem and imagine what's possible.