PINETOWN — Some may know them as the Fab 4.

Northside High School’s Myranda Jones, Alexis Keech, Danielle Woolard and Lindsey Greene are technically seniors, but they’re also soon-to-be college graduates.

All four are on track to be the first wave of students to earn two-year associate degrees and a high school diploma — in a traditional school’s four-year time frame.

Greene said students were first offered the opportunity to take an American history course through Beaufort County Community College and then a math class. Since, they’ve taken more and more classes every semester, a mixture of online courses and streaming video with BCCC classrooms, creating a new path for students to take college courses and earn degrees without having to attend an Early College.

“No one else has done it before,” Greene said.

With this type of program, the state covers the cost of tuition and the county covers the cost of books, she said.

Self-professed “guinea pigs,” these young ladies attribute a lot of their success to one another, staying focused together and pushing one another to stay motivated.

Jones said they’ve had a lot of help from others along the way, as well, including Northside’s school counselors, teachers, Principal Charles Clark and Stacey Jones, a liaison at BCCC.

“They’ve all just been super supportive,” Greene added.

Although they may have missed out on traditional high school experiences, all of them are adamant that it was all worth it.

Even if an associate degree wasn’t a perk, they would still have plenty of college credits out of the way, according to Woolard.

Jones, Keech and Greene are all headed to East Carolina University in the fall, and Woolard is going to Appalachian State University. With aspirations of careers in teaching and engineering, three out of the Fab 4 are already looking at the possibility of master’s degrees.

The girls have reservations about heading off to a university next year, as they will start as college juniors.

“We’re in college, but we haven’t had to pay for it,” Keech said. “We have to be responsible and prioritize.”

Jones said they have also accelerated the time in life when most 17- or 18-year-olds are trying to figure out career paths, and while nerve wracking, she is confident it all will work out.

The Fab 4 intends to stay close in years to come, and when the 2016-2017 school year draws to a close, they will take their next steps into the future together.

Another hope is that they have made it easier for other students behind them to go down the same path of courses.

“I can see the finish line,” Greene said.

“Whenever I talk about it, I get excited,” Jones said. “I think it was meant to happen.”