Summer programs for high school students?

[mommyoffive]

What summer programs for high school students have your kids done or that you know of?  I am looking for all sorts of things for my kids to give them choices on things to do this summer. 

[Farrar]

Obviously my dancer just did SI's in summer. Other kid stage managed and worked at a theater one summer, did a summer camp for performing arts another summer... But had his summer messed up by Covid another summer. He was supposed to go stage manage elsewhere. 

There are all sorts of summer programs out there. Some of them are really prestigious. Some are just pay for play. But if something is affordable and can help a student grow an interest... then pay for play doesn't have to be a terrible thing.

Is your goal to keep them busy, let them explore interests, help them get into college... a little of all of those?

[cintinative]

I have been looking into this. Unfortunately, if there is no financial help for us, we will not be able to afford it.

https://daap.uc.edu/community/DAAPcamps.html

[Frances]

My son did two amazing summer science research programs during high school, but neither was residential, so I guess you would have to live local to me or find similar ones near you. One was through the state medical school. In the spring, he took an amazing class about scientific research taught by a professor who wrote a book about his personal and professional experience with the disease that killed his father. As part of the class, lots of researchers at the medical school came and presented their research. The students got to choose someone whose work interested them and write a research proposal with the help of a mentor. Then many of the students, like my son, were chosen to do carry out their proposal during the summer.

The other offered students the opportunity to apply for a variety of STEM internships with businesses and colleges. My son applied for and was offered a chemistry research one at a college.

https://www.saturdayacademy.org/ase

I will say that the first one was not advertised at all. My son was the only homeschooler. The other students were all recommended by their high school guidance counselors. But I read about it online and inquired if he could apply. At the time, he was already taking classes at the local LAC for a greatly reduced rate through a special program for gifted students. Again, something not advertised, but that we heard about from others.

So I would encourage you to ask around and look for opportunities that might not be generally advertised.

[JennyD]

Following this thread.  By the summer my DS will be 17 yo and never have been away from home (thanks, COVID!).  I absolutely want him to go away, somewhere, and he so wants to meet other teens who share his interests.

 

[Miss Tick]

Any middle or high school age aspiring vets? Purdue University has two levels of residential vet camp that one of my kids was considering.

I had two kids attend the $$$ Concordia Language Camp month long immersion programs last summer. They both tested out of a level of high school foreign language.

Edited January 2, 2022 by SusanC

[Lanny]

My DD applied for 2 Summer programs that were free, when she was in High School. Both are  very competitive, especially NSLI-Y.

The first one is NSLI-Y.  She applied for a Summer program and was a Finalist or Semi-Finalist but  wasn't selected.  She did have an interview for an hour or more with someone who had been on a Summer NSLI-Y program to the country that my DD had indicated was her  2nd choice.   There was a lot of paperwork.  It turned out that the Medical part of that paperwork and getting her fully vaccinated helped when it was time for submitting her medical information to UNC so that part of the time spent in the NSLI-Y application saved time with the university process.

https://www.nsliforyouth.org/

(The U.S.  government pays so one must be a U.S. Citizen or LPR)

The other one is a Math program at Texas A&M University. Two awesome Professors were running it.  I don't remember the name of the program but if you use Google and limit your search to the  tamu.edu web site hopefully you can find it in the Math Dept.  Free

[Lori D.]

Both DSs here loved doing the 1-week-long Worldview Academy Leadership camps in the summers of high school. These are Christian worldview-based, and a type of faith-builder camp.

Many students in our local homeschool support group do a short-term mission trip and do volunteer work at a project somewhere else in the country.

Both our local university and community college run 1-week summer workshops for teens in a wide variety of areas -- writing, filmmaking, science/engineering, computer topics, robotics, astronomy, etc. etc. These are "day camps", so the student still lives at home and just goes to the campus each day for a week to attend the workshop.

Another "day camp" option that is popular in our city is youth theater. These are 1-2 week long all-day workshops/practices that culminates in a performance.

Back in spring 2020, one  student from my co-op classes asked me to write a letter of recommendation for her to apply to a summer-long Youth Conservation Corps program. (Covid cancelled the program that year, however.) Also possibly check out if your area might have a "day camp" style Youth Forest Ranger program.

I don't know of anyone IRL or here on these boards who have done it, but the Space Camp always sounded super cool to me. 😉

Edited January 2, 2022 by Lori D.

[Frances]

53 minutes ago, Lori D. said:

Both DSs here loved doing the 1-week-long Worldview Academy Leadership camps in the summers of high school. These are Christian worldview-based, and a type of faith-builder camp.

Many students in our local homeschool support group do a short-term mission trip and do volunteer work at a project somewhere else in the country.

Both our local university and community college run 1-week summer workshops for teens in a wide variety of areas -- writing, filmmaking, science/engineering, computer topics, robotics, astronomy, etc. etc. These are "day camps", so the student still lives at home and just goes to the campus each day for a week to attend the workshop.

Another "day camp" option that is popular in our city is youth theater. These are 1-2 week long all-day workshops/practices that culminates in a performance.

Back in spring 2020, one  student from my co-op classes asked me to write a letter of recommendation for her to apply to a summer-long Youth Conservation Corps program. (Covid cancelled the program that year, however.) Also possibly check out if your area might have a "day camp" style Youth Forest Ranger program.

I don't know of anyone IRL or here on these boards who have done it, but the Space Camp always sounded super cool to me. 😉

Almost 40 years ago I did the Youth Conservation Corps program for one summer. We spent most of the time working with biologists on or near the Mississippi River.

[Lori D.]

35 minutes ago, Frances said:

Almost 40 years ago I did the Youth Conservation Corps program for one summer. We spent most of the time working with biologists on or near the Mississippi River.

Cool! Way back then, I had a friend in high school who worked at the Grand Canyon as a sort of junior ranger for a summer with that program. 😄 

[mommyoffive]

Thanks for all the ideas.  My kids will be doing dance intensives again, but looking for other options too.  Looking for all different ideas to let them choose what they want to do. 

[TheSchoolintheHills]

My kids have always gone to traditional sleepaway camps, along with local Parks and Rec and farm camps (multi-sport, swim, paddleboard, etc).  Other good camps are EXPLO, Gould Academy Veterinary Camp, IMG and Nike sports camps (usually held at local high schools), and Au Sable.  And don't forget YMCA camps!

[mom2scouts]

For those with gifted kids, Summer Institute for the Gifted was life changing for our son. He skipped several grades and hated school and this camp was the first time he ever felt accepted, challenged, and among peers. It was a long time ago, but the program is still running and gets good reviews. It was a big financial sacrifice for our family, but we sent him back twice because he loved it so much. 

If you have a musician, Drum Corps International runs summer camps. I think they have both one day and multiple day camps. One of our sons attended one and really enjoyed it.

[chiguirre]

My dd did two Houston Asia Society seminars about topics in international relations. It was during Covid, so it was a zoomfest. But, normally, they would be excellent opportunities. I think there's something similar in other large cities.

 

She also attended the U of Dallas' summer Latin program in Rome. It was an excellent class that included visits to lots of ancient Roman sites led by a Classics professor. They also offer really inexpensive week long residential programs in Dallas. 

ETA: Dd also did a lot of summer CC classes. That's one of the main reasons she managed to complete the entire AA during high school. That turned out to be extremely important to her career and education plans now that she's in the Navy, but that wasn't our original goal.

The summer before high school she did Number Theory and Probability classes online at AOPS and a writing and Shakespeare class at Brave Writer. They were good choices too.

Edited January 11, 2022 by chiguirre

[kbutton]

We’ve not had kids attend, but we know a professor who recommends this music camp: 

https://internationalmusiccamp.com/

[fourisenough]

Michigan Math & Science Scholars is great if your student is so inclined. It was residential pre-Covid, but my DD did it via Zoom last year and really enjoyed her course, Orgo 101.

[teachermom2834]

I hope no one minds me bumping this. This question is on my mind and I remembered there was a thread this time last year and figured if people wanted to add anything versus repeat their answers that was cool. 
 

My 14 yo dd is finishing 9th grade. She’d like to do something different this summer and I’m always looking to expand her world which has seemed way too limited for reasons (including Covid). She is academically inclined but not gifted or advanced. She took honors biology this year and I think she’ll take Chem and APES next year. She has found herself really interested in biology and volunteers at our little local zoo and belongs to a club there focused on conservation/zoology. She would like to do something with that but she doesn’t want to be a doctor or a vet. Any zoos with decent camps for high schoolers? I can keep myself busy during days if it someplace kinda interesting. 
 

The other thing she is really interested is service and leadership type things. Like everytime she does any kind of volunteer work she comes home thinking that is the career for her. Most recently she volunteered at a food bank and came home researching what kind of degree she would need to manage a big urban food bank operation. 
 

She has an open summer and a stay at home mom willing to drive her around and pay a moderate amount for some life experiences. Doesn’t have to be intense or prestigious - she doesn’t have test scores for anything like that anyway yet. 
 

Any ideas? I’m going to chase down all the local leads with colleges and museums etc but wondered what other ideas people have. Never know what great ideas come from the WTM. 

[Frances]

18 hours ago, teachermom2834 said:

I hope no one minds me bumping this. This question is on my mind and I remembered there was a thread this time last year and figured if people wanted to add anything versus repeat their answers that was cool. 
 

My 14 yo dd is finishing 9th grade. She’d like to do something different this summer and I’m always looking to expand her world which has seemed way too limited for reasons (including Covid). She is academically inclined but not gifted or advanced. She took honors biology this year and I think she’ll take Chem and APES next year. She has found herself really interested in biology and volunteers at our little local zoo and belongs to a club there focused on conservation/zoology. She would like to do something with that but she doesn’t want to be a doctor or a vet. Any zoos with decent camps for high schoolers? I can keep myself busy during days if it someplace kinda interesting. 
 

The other thing she is really interested is service and leadership type things. Like everytime she does any kind of volunteer work she comes home thinking that is the career for her. Most recently she volunteered at a food bank and came home researching what kind of degree she would need to manage a big urban food bank operation. 
 

She has an open summer and a stay at home mom willing to drive her around and pay a moderate amount for some life experiences. Doesn’t have to be intense or prestigious - she doesn’t have test scores for anything like that anyway yet. 
 

Any ideas? I’m going to chase down all the local leads with colleges and museums etc but wondered what other ideas people have. Never know what great ideas come from the WTM. 

Might she be interested in the Youth Conservation Corp? I did it the summer before college, mainly working in and around the Mississippi River, and both of the women who were in charge of us were biologists working for the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

https://www.nps.gov/subjects/youthprograms/ycc.htm

Edited November 5, 2022 by Frances

[Malam]

On 1/1/2022 at 7:20 PM, Miss Tick said:

They both tested out of a level of high school foreign language

Did they still need to take 2 more years of a foreign language?

[Miss Tick]

38 minutes ago, Malam said:

Did they still need to take 2 more years of a foreign language?

Yes, because my homeschool rules are 4 years of world language in high school, but theoretically "no". They put in a Carnegie credit worth of language-learning time and provide documents arresting to that at the end. Whether your school provider accepts it is a different hurdle.

Their language provider say the time was WTMA, though, and when we asked about ODD testing out of French 2 they happily agreed and in the end DD went into French 3, YDD went the summer before 7th. She didn't do the high school credit, option, just enjoyed the month of immersion. During the orientation for German 1 in 8th, though, the teacher told her to have me contact her. The teacher suggested she move ahead a level since she was already orally proficient in some of the more complex grammar. I was a bit hesitant because DD is not a natural speller in any language, but it was the right choice, she enjoyed German 2.

In our local public school you would have to get permission ahead of time, and although I haven't tried, I'm highly skeptical that they would grant it. When ydd started public this year for 8th grade they had her take a placement test and then offered to assign her a B for German 1 and she could start in 2, or she could repeat German 1 for an easy "A". I know she didn't know any particular geography of Germany, but I don't know what else she missed since they don't share any details.

So, I guess it really depends on the provider and the goals. WTMA always strikes me as fostering a love of the language and the ability to function. My public school is more about box-checking. Both are valid approaches, but they don't play well with each other.

[mommyoffive]

Bumping to see if there are more ideas?

[Sneezyone]

Interlochen music/arts  camp https://www.interlochen.org

WAEL (wilderness adventure at eagle landing camps) https://www.wilderness-adventure.com
 

JMU Band camp https://www.jmusbc.com

FAMU band camp https://www.famubands.com/summer-band-camp

 

[Sebastian (a lady)]

On 11/4/2022 at 5:24 PM, teachermom2834 said:

I hope no one minds me bumping this. This question is on my mind and I remembered there was a thread this time last year and figured if people wanted to add anything versus repeat their answers that was cool. 
 

My 14 yo dd is finishing 9th grade. She’d like to do something different this summer and I’m always looking to expand her world which has seemed way too limited for reasons (including Covid). She is academically inclined but not gifted or advanced. She took honors biology this year and I think she’ll take Chem and APES next year. She has found herself really interested in biology and volunteers at our little local zoo and belongs to a club there focused on conservation/zoology. She would like to do something with that but she doesn’t want to be a doctor or a vet. Any zoos with decent camps for high schoolers? I can keep myself busy during days if it someplace kinda interesting. 
 

The other thing she is really interested is service and leadership type things. Like everytime she does any kind of volunteer work she comes home thinking that is the career for her. Most recently she volunteered at a food bank and came home researching what kind of degree she would need to manage a big urban food bank operation. 
 

She has an open summer and a stay at home mom willing to drive her around and pay a moderate amount for some life experiences. Doesn’t have to be intense or prestigious - she doesn’t have test scores for anything like that anyway yet. 
 

Any ideas? I’m going to chase down all the local leads with colleges and museums etc but wondered what other ideas people have. Never know what great ideas come from the WTM. 

Have her look at local parks districts and conservation districts for volunteer programs. In Virginia there is an annual summer conservation camp with students nominated through their local Soil & Water District. 

This might also be of interest. https://smconservation.gmu.edu/programs/high-school-summer-programs-for-college-credit/

[madteaparty]

My son did two different Concordia camps, I was not a fan

for language kids interested in some not very commonly taught languages there is the STAR program. (No experience)

CTY runs summer camps (also no experience but my friend’s DD was a TA for one)

and there there are more pay to play than you can imagine. Some are nature based like overland adventures but a massive amount are on college campuses. I guess schools found another way to make $$ off their “brands”. 

 

[mommyoffive]

On 1/2/2023 at 7:32 AM, madteaparty said:

My son did two different Concordia camps, I was not a fan

for language kids interested in some not very commonly taught languages there is the STAR program. (No experience)

CTY runs summer camps (also no experience but my friend’s DD was a TA for one)

and there there are more pay to play than you can imagine. Some are nature based like overland adventures but a massive amount are on college campuses. I guess schools found another way to make $$ off their “brands”. 

 

Why did you not like Condordia?

[Dmmetler]

L did Sea World/SDSU's bio careers camp and THINK at UNR. COVID cancelled a lot of stuff after that. 

 

THINK was good coursewise (and really not horrible financially) but two college classes in 3 weeks is really intense, and L found it less enjoyable than the programs for younger kids at UNR and through CTY for that reason. 

 

Sea world was interesting. L was the one kid primarily interested in ectotherms so got to spend a lot of time with aquarists. It had a lot of rides and shows as well as the science stuff. A bit more lightweight.

[madteaparty]

4 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

Why did you not like Condordia?

Because for the amount of time I drove to the airport, flew, rented car, drove to the middle of nowhere Minnesota, I could have flown to [insert any country where language is spoken]. Also while it’s packaged as a normal summer camp with the language immersion aspect it was too cold to swim the entire time DS was there (save for the swim test lol). I can see it serves its purpose for kids whose language of choice is not really offered at their schools at the appropriate level, but when homeschooling I’ve taken advantage of that flexibility to just go overseas or send DC on exchanges. I’ve also found I’m alone in this view, people seem to love that camp 🤷‍♀️

[SKL]

Various nearby private high schools, museums, zoos, 4H camp and the Y have teen summer programs, but as the kids get older, there are fewer that fit their age and interests/needs.

There are also summer programs at the nearby universities, some of which go up to rising 12th.  Your post inspired me to look at these.  So far I don't think we have a fit, but some more options may be posted as time goes by.

Now that both of my kids are 16, I prefer that they get a summer job, but failing that, I think I will try to get them signed up for some of the above (if they don't have a big fit about it).  They also attend an annual one-week culture camp, and their high school hosts summer marching band camp and sports practices.

I wish I could find something to reinforce high school academics in-person, and I don't mean camps catering to geniuses.  😛  There are lots of online resources, but without some outside structure, my teens don't comply.

[EmilyGF]

Inspired by this and other discussions, I googled most of my nearby hospitals (dd16 wants to go into healthcare, she thinks) and "high school". Most of them had a page with information about volunteering and/or paid internships.

Emily

[historically accurate]

My kids (3 different kids at different times) have done:

a culinary camp and a pre-nursing camp at a place that promotes tech school

a rural medical career camp hosted by our state flagship's medical school (ended up virtual due to covid)

GenCyber program at a local-ish community college

Electrical engineering at our flagship state u hosted by 4-H

Genetics camp and neuroscience camp with meet-n-greet with the author of the book studied through our state residential gifted high school (first ended up virtual due to covid, second they kept virtual since it worked well). 

A dog training camp at a local shelter

 

They've also volunteered at the kids' science museum, assisted with younger kids' camps (chess, robotics and rocketry are the ones I can think of off hand), and done a lot of babysitting. We try to get 1 "camp" like experience in for them during the summer months though.  

[mommyoffive]

On 1/5/2023 at 6:09 PM, madteaparty said:

Because for the amount of time I drove to the airport, flew, rented car, drove to the middle of nowhere Minnesota, I could have flown to [insert any country where language is spoken]. Also while it’s packaged as a normal summer camp with the language immersion aspect it was too cold to swim the entire time DS was there (save for the swim test lol). I can see it serves its purpose for kids whose language of choice is not really offered at their schools at the appropriate level, but when homeschooling I’ve taken advantage of that flexibility to just go overseas or send DC on exchanges. I’ve also found I’m alone in this view, people seem to love that camp 🤷‍♀️

What places did you send your dc on exchanges through?

[madteaparty]

 Most were arranged through friends but there are many exchange organizations. My daughter spent time in a tiny French town/elementary school through an Adolesco exchange and we continue to see that family/child every year, etc. nieces also used adolesco 

Edited January 7, 2023 by madteaparty

[Lilaclady]

If anyone has any info on a hip hop or contemporary dance camp I’m all hears. Thanks 

[mommyoffive]

4 hours ago, Lilaclady said:

If anyone has any info on a hip hop or contemporary dance camp I’m all hears. Thanks 

I know nothing about this program

Boston Conservatory at Berklee Summer Dance Intensive | Boston Conservatory at Berklee

 

These are ones I have read about, but don't have personal experience with

Programs | Hubbard Street Dance Chicago

 

SUMMER PROGRAM — Alonzo King LINES Ballet

[shawthorne44]

Our local Junior College system has some amazing Summer Camps.   Each one-week long and just during the day, but not all day.   Things like Electronics, Robotics, Forensic Science.   

[Guest]

https://www.uwyo.edu/ARABIC/high-school-and-community-outreach/startalk-arabic-summer-camp.html

[Guest]

For the art inclined -- Science Illustration: https://csumb.edu/scienceillustration/summer-science-illustration/