Just a year ago, Jackson Lancaster was in the spotlight at Beaufort County Community College. The star student was the recipient of countless honors at the college.

Now, Coldwell Banker has named Lancaster one of its “30 Under 30” real estate brokers. He will be attending a ceremony in Miami to accept the award.

Lancaster returned to the college to visit with staff, who worked closely with him along the way.

The rising star graduated from the Early College High School at BCCC in 2015. The program allows students to finish after five years with both an associate degree and a high school diploma. At the end of his fifth year he started taking real estate courses to get licensed. The business student moved immediately into working on a Bachelor of Arts degree in business administration at ECU while working as a broker at Coldwell Banker.

“It shouldn’t take too much longer because of all the classes I got out of the way (at BCCC),” he says of his ECU studies.

The prestigious “30 Under 30” list draws from 85,000 Coldwell Banker professionals working in 47 countries around the world. He has managed this success while attending ECU full-time.

“This is a monumental achievement for Jackson and we could not be more proud of him,” said Gerri McKinley, broker/owner of Coldwell Banker Coastal Rivers Realty.

While at BCCC, Lancaster served as president of the Student Government Association and was an ambassador for the BCCC Foundation. As the SGA president, he was also an ex-officio member of the BCCC Board of Trustees. Ambassadors for the BCCC Foundation have their tuition fully paid for during the year that they serve in return for helping with community functions and outreach throughout the year. Lancaster also received the McLawhorn President’s Fund Scholarship. Other groups he participated in at BCCC include the Appeals Committee, Gull Fest 2015 Committee, Gamma Beta Phi Honor Society and Gulls on the Run.

It was the initial contacts from BCCC that helped get Lancaster started, along with skills he acquired at the college. His involvement in clubs made him more social. Theresa Edwards, student activities coordinator, helped him to learn how to balance classes with clubs. Though Lancaster has wanted to be a real estate broker since he was 8 years old, BCCC faculty like Lisa Hill, now dean of arts and sciences and Lancaster’s academic advisor since the ninth grade, helped him to focus on his career path when he had doubts.

When Lancaster stepped outside of the college into the professional world, it was not an easy transition. “It was difficult because people didn’t take me seriously,” he said.

His first listing was from BCCC staff member Sandra Pinkham. After his initial success, the recommendations started coming in and other former teachers started using his services. Recently, he helped instructor Matthew Lincoln sell his house. His excitement, optimism and use of social media have kept the clients coming in. They see how he is willing to go out of his way to help make a sale.

“He is such a gem,” Lisa Hill said. “You can see how driven he is in everything that he does.”