MCLEANSVILLE, N.C. -- The Choice Bus, created by the Mattie C. Stewart Foundation of Birmingham, Ala., rode through McLeansville to teach students what life could be like if they drop out of high school.

The Choice Bus, described as a half classroom, half jail cell, came to Northeast Middle School to show students what it's like inside an eight by eight foot jail cell typically shared by two or three inmates.

"What we want people to do when they board the bus is to understand it only takes one bad choice to go from a life of opportunity to a life of despair," Phil Christian of the Mattie C. Stewart Foundation said.

According to Christian, 80 percent people that drop out of school land themselves in prison.

"So what we do is we show them a brief video about making good choices and then we reveal a jail cell, an exact replica of a jail cell that we've created in the back of the bus," Christian said.

After touring the Choice Bus and seeing what it's like inside a real jail cell, the students are asked to fill out a card pledging to graduate from high school.

"It's a commitment to them personally and also to their parents and to their teachers that they're going to stay in school, they're going to get a good education and they're going to go out into the community and be productive citizens," Christian said.

Northeast Middle School Principal Johncarlos Miller said it's something the students need to hear.

"It's important to send this message now as middle schoolers because high school is what awaits them and in high school, it's a different world from middle school," Miller said. "They're going to have to be more responsible."

After their tour, some students said that a jail cell is certainly where they don't want to end up.

"It's small and you can't do a whole lot of stuff in there, you don't have privacy and stuff," eighth grader Samonte Scales said. "I think I'm going to do good as long as I make the right choices."