In addition to helping you become a better learner and student, special opportunities and / or honors programs also look great on a resume and helps build that application for scholarships and / or college. If you are considering college, you might want to consider proving your ability to challenge yourself academically and personally through special opportunities or honors program.
The links below are just a sample of the many programs available for students. Contact a school counselor for more details. Many colleges provide opportunities for high school students on their websites.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR AT-RISK YOUTH
Bluegrass Challenge Academy challenges at-risk youth to better themselves. A 22-week residential program, BCA offers students the chance to live in a structured environment, free of distractions. (Kentucky)
A residential program and boys ranch that provides a place for families to get help for their addicted or troubled boys when all else has failed. (MORROW, ARKANSAS)
SUMMER OPPORTUNITIES
SCATS - Summer Camp for Academically Talented Middle School Students
Two week camp for gifted 6th, 7th, and 8th graders held at Western Kentucky University.
VAMPY - The Summer Program for Verbally and Mathematically Precocious Youth
Three week camp for gifted 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10 graders held at Western Kentucky University.
Student Conservation Association-National Conservation Crews
30 day volunteerism expeditions, working in national parks, on shores, fisheries, and volcanoes.
Northern Kentucky University Camps
West Kentucky Community & Technical College
AVIATION CAMP (RISING 9TH-12TH GR)
UNDERWATER ASTRONAUT CAMP (12-15 YEARS OLD)
DRONE DISCOVERY I (RISING 7TH-9TH GR)
DRONE DISCOVERY II (RISING 8TH-12TH GR)
Career Camps
Skills Today--Careers Tomorrow
Career Camps focus on fundamental workplace skills that will assist students with building their communication and time management. While discovering new career paths and learning about post-secondary education options, students will participate in an interactive environment and gain various skill sets.
Opportunities out of state
Harvard's Secondary School Program
(for 10th graders to apply) Spend part of the summer at the great American university.
University of Pennsylvania Summer Program for High School Students
Spend summer at this Ivy League school. Research opportunities available.
University of Notre Dame Pre-College Program
A taste of college at Notre Dame. Specialty programs are available in Engineering and Architecture.
Cornell University Summer College
Open to high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors to apply at this great New York state university.
Worchester Polytechnic Institute Summer Programs
STEM programs are offered for high school students throughout the summer at this Massachusetts location.
Missouri University of Science and Technology Summer Programs
This school offers summer programs for various STEM interests for grades K – 12.
Frazier International History Museum, Louisville, KY
Summer Camp Aide-Teen Volunteers program
NOAA-National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association
Various high school internships
Office of Naval Research-Science and Engineering Apprentice Program
(typically must be 16 years old by the start of the summer program)
Florida Institute of Technology Engineering Camp
This week long camp in Melbourne, Florida is for rising 10th, 11th, and 12th graders who aspire to be engineers.
J.B. Speed School of Engineering, University of Louisville, INSPIRE Engineering Camp
Those targeted for the program include African American, Hispanic, Native American and female students who attend Louisville-area public or private high schools, but the program is open to all.
The Summer Academy at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, FL
Aviation and aeronautical tracks for students ages 12 – 18 years.
Sewanee: University of the South's Pre-College Field Studies Experience
A match for current high school sophomores who love biodiversity and the environment.
Rising 7th-12th graders can apply to this summer camp at Vanderbilt University.
High School Summer Scholars at Washington University in St. Louis
High school sophomores are eligible to apply for this five-week college experience program.
Summer Writers Institute at Washington University in St. Louis
Sophomore young writers can choose poetry, fiction, or creative non-fiction tracks to pursue in this two-week camp.