Summer Programs for High School Students
Did you know that many organizations offer career discovery opportunities for high school students and recent graduates? These include health care, technology, manufacturing plants, government agencies, and more.
American Camp Association, Camp Experience
With a mission of enriching the lives of youth and young adults through the camp experience, the ACA offers numerous educational and real life experiential summer opportunities for students of varying ages. The value placed on the camp program is one of an appreciation of the world, the people who live in it, and the contribution each individual can make. The ‘Find a Camp’ online search tool is very helpful to hone in on that specific experience based on demographic and context selections you make.
Canada/USA Mathcamp, 5-Week Summer Program
This organization offers an immersive summer 5-week experience for mathematically talented students, of middle and high school age, from around the world. Mathcamp represents a vibrant community made up of a wide variety of individuals who share a common love of learning and passion for mathematics. The value added from this experience is the exposure of students to the beauty of advanced mathematical ideas and to new ways of thinking.
Rock The Street, Wall Street
Though this is a year-long program as opposed to a summer experience, it is definitely worthy of mention here. RTSWS inspires young women to pursue the M in STEM by exposing them to real life, positive money management role models. The vision is to eradicate financial illiteracy and develop a workforce pipeline of untapped financial talent. A list of participating high schools across the country can be found on this website. As well, new member high schools are encouraged to partner. The value added in this experience is that young girls learn about savings and investments, budgeting, the capital markets and their role in maintaining the welfare of their families and the economy. The list of sponsors and supporters include some serious ‘horse power’ firms.
EXPLO, Learning Through Exploration
This organization is all about changing hearts and minds to create a world in which young adults can take charge of their own learning and chart a course of success in life. There is a firm vision that ‘learning mirrors life’. Offered are 3-week, 1- and 2-week summer programs. The value added is one of a mindset that creates a community of intellectual adventure beyond the traditional academic routine.
National History Academy - History Camp
This academy sits on 500 acres of countryside in Middleburg, Virginia. The History Camp’s mission is to inspire students to understand the foundations of American democracy and the responsibilities of citizenship through the learning experiences while at the camp. The camp is designed for 10th, 11th, and 12th graders from across the nation. The value added by this experience is that the student not only learns about American history, but actually lives it!
Envision, Envision Your Future
Career exploration, leadership and innovation are the experiential areas in the numerous summer program experiences offered by this company. The tuition may be considered pricey, but the college and university settings are the incredible. Envision’s philosophy is that all students have the power to live their dreams, make an impact and change the world. The value that comes from participating in one of the programs is for young adults to turn their career and life aspirations into reality. Take the time to check out their list of impressive campus locations.
American Psychology Association, Summer Student Programs
The APA provides a quaint list of summer opportunities for high school students by groups outside of the APA. The purpose of the list is to offer students interested in the field of psychology purposeful and further understanding of the field through an arts and science perspective. The list includes many acclaimed higher education institutions.
National Science Foundation, Summer Research Experiences
The NSF provides funding for many summer research opportunities for students through its Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program. Students are associated with a host institution with a specific research project and are granted stipends. The value added experience is that students are able to examine subject areas in depth, from a real research world perspective and under the auspices of tenured and scholarly faculty and researchers.
Association of American Medical Colleges, Summer Enrichment and Pipeline Programs
AAMC is a non-profit association dedicated to transforming health care through innovative medical education, cutting-edge patient care and groundbreaking medical research. They provide an incredible database resource to help students locate summer enrichment programs across the country.
Career Vision – Exploring Careers and College Majors through Summer Camps, Museums and Tours
Academic summer camps, factory tours and museum education programs are highlighted on this organization’s website. Career Vision’s mission is to help individuals make great career decisions based on each person’s unique potential. The planning aspect of each experience a young adult does is the value added component leading to great direction, confidence and motivation.
College Express, Summer Program Search
Here is a fantastic tool for the purpose of locating a summer program with any number of search index parameters. If you don’t know where to start relative to exploring summer program options, use the Summer Program Search and begin to hone in on what it is you are looking for in an experience. If you know precisely what you are looking for, locating just the right summer program is a breeze.
International Association for College Admissions Counseling, Summer Programs
Are you a high school student who would like an idea of what life would be like at a higher institution of learning? Domestic and international experiences abound as you explore the options on the IACAC website. The opportunities are broken down by U.S. and international regions. In addition, you can peruse the global summer program offerings by topic by clicking on the Additional Summer Resource Programs link. This is an amazing tool.
Summer Health Professions Education Program, Pre-Med and Pre-Dental Programs
SHPEP’s efforts are intended to keep pace with the growing importance of team-based care and inter-professional collaboration. The program sites are at 12 universities across the nation. Required components of the experience include academic enrichment in the basic sciences and math, clinical experience, career development activities, learning and study skills seminars and a financial planning workshop. The value added component to this free experience is gaining access to information and resources for those students interested in the health professions.
Program in Mathematics for Young Scientists, Summer Program
PROMYS is a six-week summer experience held at Boston University. It is designed to encourage strongly motivated high school students to explore in depth the creative world of mathematics. The environment provided is one that is a supportive community of peers, counselors, research mathematicians and visiting scientists. The 80 high school student participants from across the country experience an incredible value added component of understanding to design their own numerical experiments and to apply their own power of analysis to discover mathematical patterns, formulate and test conjecture, and be able to justify their ideas with their own mathematical proofs.
LaunchX, Summer Program
What an incredible opportunity! This organization’s MIT experience has now gone virtual with a summer program that taps into the potential of ambitious high school students, supporting them through the process of launching an actual startup. Be prepared to join a group of promising young entrepreneurs from around the globe for four intense weeks. An incredible value added component: students start real companies.
The Jackson Laboratory, Summer Student Program
This is a very unique organization with a bold mission: to discover precise genomic solutions for disease and empower the global biomedical community in the shared quest to improve human health. The Summer Student Program is designed for 48 high school students chosen from all over the U.S. who want to immerse themselves in genetics and genomics research. Laboratory discovery is emphasized. At the end of the experience, students will present their findings to researchers, other students and parents. The Summer Student Program locations are in Maine and Connecticut. The value added is the student’s discovery, communication of knowledge and professional growth.
Bank of America, Student Leadership Summer Program
The mission of this summer program is to prepare a diverse pipeline of community-minded young students with the leadership training they need to be successful in the workforce. Through the program, more than 300 community-minded high school juniors and seniors from nearly 100 communities are connected to employment, skills development and service. They are awarded paid summer internships with their own local non-profits such as Boys and Girls Clubs of America and Habitat for Humanity and participate in a national leadership summit in Washington, D.C. The value added comes from responsible growth and understanding how to build and learn through thriving communities.
MDI Biological Laboratories, High School Student Summer Research Fellowship
MDI Biological Laboratory offers summer research fellowship opportunities for high school students with a passion for scientific research. This summer fellowship opportunity is competitive with over oftentimes hundreds of applications submitted annually for a small number of available positions. The experience is invaluable relative to students developing their scientific research skills. And the price is right with the only costs incurred by the student are travel, laundry and voluntary recreation activities off campus. Fellows live with other high school students in an on-campus dormitory with a resident advisor and participate together in group activities outside the workday. Meals are provided 7 days a week in the campus dining hall.
Be sure to access the student opportunities database.