Summer Enrichment

Summer Enrichment Opportunities 

Summer enrichment can include a variety of things: pre-college programs at universities, internships, courses, or jobs. As students think toward college, they should consider enrichment opportunities that will give them experience based on their interests. 


On this page, you will find information about the following:




  1. Pre-College Summer Programs at Universities

In Texas

15 Best Pre-College Programs

https://www.lumiere-education.com/post/15-best-high-school-summer-research-programs-in-texas 


UT Austin:

UT Austin Pre-College Academic Programs

STEM, fashion, digital marketing, psychology, sports management

https://www.summerdiscovery.com/u-texas-austin 


Hardin Simmons University Abilene, TX, (in person) (scholarships available)

Health Science Summer Enrichment Program

https://www.hsutx.edu/about-hsu/camps/hssep/ 


Stephen F. Austin Pre-Law Academy, Nacogdoches, Texas, in-person

https://www.sfasu.edu/academics/colleges/liberal-applied-arts/multidisciplinary-programs/outreach/high-school-pre-law-academy 

Baylor University

https://admissions.web.baylor.edu/admissions/high-school-juniors/pre-college-programs-juniors  rising seniors


Out of State Texas

Summer Programs in Aerospace Engineering

https://www.teenlife.com/category/summer/aerospace-summer-programs/ 


Barnard Summer Programs in NY (in person) (scholarships available)

https://precollege.barnard.edu/summer-2022-pre-baccalaureate-course-offerings 

Writing, coding, human rights, literature, film, theatre film studies, psychology, architecture, religion and political science.


FEMALE SPECIFIC OPPORTUNITIES 

Young Women's Leadership: https://precollege.barnard.edu/young-womens-leadership-summer-institute 

Athena Summer Innovation Institute: https://precollege.barnard.edu/athena-summer-innovation-institute-1 

Kode with Klossy: https://precollege.barnard.edu/kodewithklossy 


Boston University (in person, scholarships available)


California College of the Arts, Pittsburgh, PA (in person and online)

Immerse yourself in a creative community while earning three college credits: Animation 3D, Architecture, Artist as Activist: Print/Multimedia, Comics, Fashion, Design, Illustration/Drawing, Industrial Design, Interior Design, Painting/Drawing, Game Design

https://portal.cca.edu/learning/youth-programs-and-continuing-education/pre-college-program/ 


Carnegie Mellon Summer Pre-College Programs (in person)

https://www.cmu.edu/pre-college/ 

Art, Computational Bio, Music,  Computer Science Scholars, Summer Academy for Science and Math (SAMS), Art, Architecture, Design, Drama, National High School Game Academy, Summer Session, Writing & Culture

 

Champlain College, Burlington, VT (in-person)

Champlain College offers summer pre-college opportunities for high school students to immerse themselves in a subject they're passionate about, get a taste of college life and add strength to their college applications.



Harvard High School Programs- (In Person) (scholarships available)

Pre-College Program

Secondary School Program

https://summer.harvard.edu/high-school-programs/pre-college-program/#student-snapshot 

 

Invest In Education (in the UK) (In Person and Online)

Summer Residential Programmes: Young Investment Banker, Young Doctor, Young Engineer

Two-Day Programmes:  Young Investment Banker, Young Doctor, Young Lawyer, Young Engineer, Young Business Leader

Programmes for Ages 12-14:  Beyond Science, Beyond Maths

https://investin.org/pages/choose-your-career 


Massachusetts College of Art and Design (Virtual and In Person) (scholarships available)

Drawing, illustration, Fashion, Animation, Jewelry Making

https://massart.edu/youth-programs 


Northwestern in Chicago (in person and online)

https://sps.northwestern.edu/college-preparation/ 

Over 300 Courses available for college credit. 

Two week non-credit seminars.

 

Oxford Summer School (in-person)

Summer courses are available in a variety of arts and STEM subject areas, including Medicine, Architecture, Law and Computer Science.  Through Oxford Royale Academy's summer school taught on the campus of the University of Oxford

https://www.oxford-royale.com/ 

 

Penn Engineering Summer Academy (in-person) Philadelphia, PA

https://esap.seas.upenn.edu/ 

Biotechnology, complex networks, computer graphics, robotics, nanotechnology, computer science


Savannah College of Art and Design Atlanta and Savannah, in-person (scholarships available)

Summer Seminars

https://www.scad.edu/academics/pre-college-programs/scad-summer-seminars/register 


Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, in-person only

https://www.smith.edu/academics/precollege-programs/homepage 

Summer programs for girls: Writing, Engineering, Field Studies for Sustainable Futures, Women's History 

 

Stanford Summer Academy (in-person and online)

https://summerinstitutes.spcs.stanford.edu/ 

Summer Academy -- a pre-college, residential program

This is a 10 session (25 hour) program that exposes high school students to fundamental AI concepts and guides them to build a socially impactful project.  Taught by a team of Stanford grad students, students receive a personalized learning experience in small groups.

 

St. John's College, Philadelphia, PA, in-person

Summer Academy -- a pre-college, residential program, liberal arts focus



University of Chicago Neubaur Family Adelante Summer Scholarship Program (3 weeks online, 1 week in person)

Full program scholarship for the students top students engaged in Hispanic and Latino communities.

https://summer.uchicago.edu/programs/neubauer-family-adelante-summer-scholars 


University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA (in-person)

Four and two week programs

Architecture • Business • Engineering & Information Technology • Global Studies • Journalism •

Performing Arts: Summer Theatre Conservatory • Pre-Health & Science • Pre-Law • Writing & Critical Thinking

 https://summerprograms.usc.edu/ 





Washington University STL - Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts - St. Louis, MO, In person

https://samfoxschool.wustl.edu/academics/pre-college-programs 

Architecture Discovery and Portfolio Plus programs

High School Summer Scholars Program

High School Summer Institutes


Yale Young Global Scholars Program (online only)

https://globalscholars.yale.edu/ 

 


Girls Who Code

https://girlswhocode.com/

2. Volunteer Experience in Greater Austin Area

Community Service Ideas

https://blog.fundly.com/community-service-ideas/ 

Round Rock Serving Center (assist in store, garden, sorting)

https://www.rrasc.org/


Round Rock Library

https://www.roundrocktexas.gov/city-departments/library-home/get-involved/volunteer/ 


Georgetown Library

https://library.georgetown.org/volunteer-at-the-library/ 


The Central Texas Food Bank (kitchen preparing meals)

 https://www.centraltexasfoodbank.org/get-involved/volunteer 


Generation Serve (environment, animals, seniors, individuals, and families in need)

 http://generationserve.org/ 


Keep Austin Beautiful (volunteering cleaning your local parks, creeks, or lakes)

https://keepausitnbeautiful.org


Green Corn Projects (organic food gardens)

http://www.greencornproject.org


Partnerships for Children  (sort, tag, and wrap gifts for children during holiday season)

https://www.timeout.com/austin/things-to-do/partnerships-for-children 


Youth 2Seniors (partner up youth with seniors living in assisted living facilities)

http://www.youth2seniors.org/


Austin Parks Foundation, environment-friendly outreach program clean local parks

 http://www.austinparks.org/


Meals on Wheels

http://www.mealsonwheelsandmore.org/programs/meal-delivery/


Big Hearted Family (feeding the hungry, caring for animals, or cleaning the community)

 http://www.bigheartedfamilies.org/

Urban Roots (volunteer with an adult at this 3.5-acre sustainable farm in East Austin, 50% of food donated to shelters and food banks)

https://www.timeout.com/austin/things-to-do/urban-roots


Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter

https://pets.wilco.org/ 

Georgetown Animal Services

https://pets.georgetown.org/volunteers/ 



Look at local and national organizations that offer ways to get involved. 


Possible Areas of Interest

3. Ideas for Summer Jobs

Government Jobs in Austin

https://www.austintexas.gov/page/youth-employment-and-program-opportunities

Variety of Departments: Animal Services Department, Austin Energy Department, Austin Police Department, Austin Resource Recovery, Austin Water, Financial Services-Budget Office, Austin Public Health Department, Human Resources Department, Library Department, Parks & Recreation Department, Public Works Department, Watershed Protection Department


Government Jobs in Round Rock (Camp counseling)

https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/roundrock 


Indeed: Find a range of teen jobs in the area on Indeed's website

Williamson County: https://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=Teen&l=Williamson%20County%2C%20TX&vjk=2419fbb75063edad 

Round Rock: https://www.indeed.com/q-Teen-l-Round-Rock,-TX-jobs.html?vjk=d5fda2ce0eaba56e 

Georgetown: https://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=Teen&l=Georgetown%2C%20TX&vjk=2419fbb75063edad 

Hutto: https://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=Teen&l=Hutto%2C%20TX&vjk=b915bd7eba11810c 

Cedar Park: https://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=Teen&l=Cedar%20Park%2C%20TX&vjk=dd155aee3ce8be0f 

Leander: https://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=Teen&l=leander%2C%20TX&vjk=dd155aee3ce8be0f 

Glass Door Jobs for Teens

https://www.glassdoor.com/Job/round-rock-tx-us-teens-jobs-SRCH_IL.0,16_IC1139794_KO17,22.htm?clickSource=searchBox 


City of Austin


4. Internships

Science-Related Internships

Science Internships in Texas for High School Students

https://www.internships.com/science/texas 


UC Berkeley Bioengineering’s Summer Biodesign Immersion Experience, Berkeley, CA

https://bioeng.berkeley.edu/biodesign


Child Health Research Internship, Affiliated with the University of Colorado School of Medicine

For rising seniors

Research Training Opportunities for Child Health Research

https://www.childrenscolorado.org/research-innovation/training-opportunities

Monell Center Science Apprenticeship program Philadelphia, PA, in -person

https://monell.org/science-apprenticeship-program/

research and science


National Eye Institute Bethesda MD

NEI Summer Intern Program

https://www.nei.nih.gov/grants-and-training/training-nei/internships-and-student-programs/nei-summer-intern-program


NIH Summer Internship Program (Research Triangle in North Carolina)

https://www.niehs.nih.gov/careers/research/summers/index.cfm



Research at Biological Field Station, Oneonta, NY

https://suny.oneonta.edu/biological-field-station/internships 


Helios Scholars Program, Phoenix, AZ

https://www.tgen.org/education/helios-scholars-at-tgen/#.WIl67FMrJhF 

Paid 8 week internship program, science


Geosciences Bridge Program, Princess Anne, MD 

https://www.umes.edu/cscgeosciences/ 


Lillehei Heart Institute – Summer Research Scholars Programs Minneapolis, MN

https://med.umn.edu/lhi/educational-programs/summer-research-scholars-program


US Army Research Apprenticeships and Fellowships, various locations

https://www.usaeop.com/program/high-school-apprenticeships/ 

https://web.cvent.com/event/391dd470-3dd7-4441-857b-cd9f38eb75df/summary 



Stanford Institutes Of Medicine Summer research program

Summer Research Program

https://simr.stanford.edu/ 



5. Dual Credit Options

ACC Dual Credit --Getting a head start through ACC During the Summer

From https://www.mwschool.org/apps/pages/outsidecredit 

Austin Community College Classes for High School Students

Austin Community College offers college credit courses to qualified high school students in the ACC service area. ACC credits are transferable to most Texas public colleges and universities. Note that Meridian School does not have a Dual Credit agreement with ACC. Courses taken at ACC will not be posted on students’ high school transcripts.  

It’s important to verify ACC course transferability with your student’s future four-year institution. Tuition and fees are waived for in-tax district students, and out-of-tax district students are assessed a $150 fee per course. Please note that these courses require significant work and may be best suited for summer, as classes at Meridian need to remain a focus during the school year (especially for students in the Diploma Program in grades 11-12).


The HS Programs Enrollment Guidebook includes step-by-step instructions required for high school students who desire to participate in ACC courses. It also includes information about ACC ID and ACC email activation, registration instructions, and eligible college readiness scores. Read more info here.


Application Steps and Checklist:

HS Programs Enrollment Guidebook (PDF)


Questions? Please contact Mr. Nick Manuszak (high school counselor).

McMurry Online  Dual Credit

Meridian does NOT have a dual credit agreement with McMurry Academy and any classes taken there would not be posted on students' high school transcripts. Courses taken at McMurry are transferrable to most Texas public colleges, but it is up to the individual universities to accept them. 

https://mcm.edu/admissions-overview/dual-credit-academy/

Students may apply directly on the McMurry website. 

No TSI/ACT/SAT is required. Both 9th and 10th graders can enroll for the  online 16-week semester classes



6. Freshman Year for Free --Free Classes and CLEP Tests

Want to take course this summer and CLEP out of a college class through testing? 

See Modern States Organization Program called Freshman Year for Free. 

https://modernstates.org/freshman-year-free/ 

7. Health Shadowing Programs