NATCHEZ — When LeAnna Swain crosses the podium this May during her graduation ceremony from Natchez High School, she is expected to receive two degrees: a diploma and an associate’s degree from Copiah-Lincoln Community College.

Swain is among the first group of students to receive both college and high school degrees through the Natchez Early College Academy.

Though the academy has been in place since 2014, the graduating class of 2018 is the first that will receive a full degree when they graduate high school, Principal Kesha Broady-Campbell said.

Swain decided she wanted to be in the early college program in ninth grade and, between band practice, a part-time job and the golf course, she has maintained a 3.8 GPA in her college courses.

As her senior year neared, though, she knew she had to make a decision. In order to finish her college courses on time, she would have to give up her extracurriculars.

“It was band or an associate’s degree,” she said.

She chose her academics.

This semester Swain is taking 19 credit hours and has kept her part-time job at Sonic.

“I don’t have a life,” she said, “When I’m not at school, I’m at work.”

Swain dreams of going to college at Mississippi State University and, on completion of med school, becoming an anesthesiologist.

She said her dualing love of helping people and dislike of blood led her to the field of anesthesiology.

“I can help people,” she said. “But I don’t have to cut anybody.”

Katherine Richards, Swain’s mother, said her daughter’s dedication to her work will take her far.

“She’s really applying herself,” Richards said. “She’s taking it so seriously and she focuses more than ever with her homework.”

Swain said her college courses differ from high school classes — with more work, more responsibility and less oversight.

“It helped me learn to study,” she said. “It gives you a bridge in-between (high school and college) to get adapted.”

Within NECA, Swain said her small class has formed a tight bond.

The students often meet to study and to tutor one another.

“We’re very close,” she said. “If we see somebody struggling, we always help each other out.”

When preparing to take graduations portraits, Richards said all the NECA students and their parents gathered together.“I was snapping pictures of the parents looking at their children, and they were doing the same for us,” Richards said. “It was almost like graduation night.”

Though Swain will leave her classmates and friends after graduation, she said she is not nervous.

“I always get along with people,” Swain said.

For now, Swain’s future plans are set: she’ll move to Starkville to join her sister, she will receive her undergraduate degree in biochemistry and then apply to med school.

After that, however, she does not know exactly where she will go.

She has considered Georgia, where she spent part of her childhood or perhaps in a bigger city in Texas.

Richards said no matter where Swain ends up, Natchez will be home.

“With your kids, you want to instill a foundation in them,” Richards said. “Though we all have different endeavors, it’s really just about putting God first and having a fulfilling life.”