The Northeast Regional School of Biotechnology and Agriscience near Plymouth is preparing to enroll its first class of ninth-grade students in an early college high school that will focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The location of the school, at the Vernon G. James Research and Extension Center, will give students the chance to interact with researchers and other staff at the center, said David Peele, chairman of the school’s board of directors.

Applications for the school are available online, and they will soon be available in middle schools in a five-county region that includes Beaufort, Martin, Pitt, Tyrrell and Washington counties.

About 60 rising ninth-grade students will be chosen for the 2012-2013 school year.

The Beaufort County Board of Education, in a series of votes last year, endorsed the project, but it indicated that students from the county who want to attend the school would be responsible for their own transportation.

The school is among the first in the state that is a collaboration among multiple school districts working to develop a school that will offer hands-on learning, computers for every student, internships and other experiences to prepare students for college and careers, according to Todd Silberman, a spokesman for the N.C. New Schools Project.

As an early college high school, students will have the chance to earn as much as two years of tuition-free college credit along with their high-school diplomas.

Students at the school will take college courses via the Internet through a partnership with N.C. State University in Raleigh.

Applications to attend the Northeast School are online at www.NERegionalSchool.org. Parents who have questions about the new school may email them to info@NERegionalSchool.org.