14 Summer Programs for High School Students in Montana
If you’re a high school student in Montana who’s interested in exploring education beyond the classroom, you should consider doing a summer program. Summer programs are an opportunity for you to explore an area of interest or discover a new one. They can help you get a glimpse into college life and potentially even earn credit. If you are interested in journalism, music, paleontology, or anything in between, this article lists some programs you can look into.
Participating in summer programs can even enhance your college applications, showcasing your commitment to your academic interests and your ability to handle advanced coursework. As college admissions become more competitive, participating in a selective summer program is one way to stand out in the admissions process.
Here are 14 summer programs for high school students in Montana to consider.
Location: Virtual
Cost: Individual Research Program ($2,990), Premium Research & Publication Program ($5,900), the Research Fellowship ($8,900), Professor Premium Publication Program ($8,900). Financial aid available
Application Deadline: Varies according to cohort. November 24, 2024 for the upcoming Winter cohort
Program Dates: Individual Research (12 weeks) | Premium Research (16-20 weeks) | Research Fellowship (6-12 months) | Professor Premium (16-20 weeks)
Eligibility: Open to students anywhere in the world
The Lumiere Research Scholar Program is a rigorous research program tailored for high school students. The program offers extensive 1-on-1 research opportunities for high school students across a broad range of subject areas that you can explore as a high schooler.
The program pairs high school students with PhD mentors to work 1-on-1 on an independent research project. At the end of the 12-week program, you’ll have developed an independent research paper! You can choose research topics from subjects such as psychology, physics, economics, data science, computer science, engineering, chemistry, international relations, and more. You can find more details about the application here.
2. Veritas AI
Location: Virtual
Cost: AI Scholars: $2,290 (financial aid is available); AI Fellowship with Publication & Showcase: $5,400; Combination (AI Scholars + AI Fellowship): $6,900
Application Deadline: Varies according to cohort. October 20, 2024 for the upcoming Winter. You can apply here!
Program Dates: Multiple, year-round cohorts
Eligibility: High school students passionate about AI; Basic understanding of Python or completion of AI scholars is required for the AI Fellowship program
Veritas AI is founded and run by Harvard graduate students, and the programs are geared toward high school students who want to build their foundations in computer science. In the program, students learn various concepts in data science and artificial intelligence like neural networks, image classification, natural language processing, sentiment analysis, coding using Python, and more.
Veritas AI offers up to 100% financial aid for the 10-week AI Scholars program. Through the program, students build real-world, hands-on projects in groups of 3-5 to showcase their interests and skills. You can also apply for the AI Fellowship with Publication & Showcase Program where you work 1-1 with mentors from top universities to build unique machine learning projects over a period of 12-15 weeks. These programs are a great option for you if you like engaging in hands-on learning and are a beginner!
Location: Remote! You can work from anywhere in the world
Cost: $2,490 (Financial Aid Available)
Application Deadline: Varies depending on the cohort. November 24, 2024 for the upcoming Winter cohort
Internship Dates: Multiple cohorts throughout the year. December 16, 2024 onwards for the Winter cohort
Eligibility: Students who can work for 10-20 hours/week for 8-12 weeks. Open to high school students, undergraduates, and gap year students!
Ladder Internships is a selective start-up internship program for ambitious high school students! In the program, you work with a high-growth start-up on an internship. Start-ups that offer internships range across a variety of industries from tech/deep tech and AI/ML to health tech, marketing, journalism, consulting, and more. You can explore all the options here on their application form.
Ladder’s start-ups are high-growth companies on average raising over a million dollars. Past founders have included YCombinator alums, founders raising over 30 million dollars, or founders who previously worked at Microsoft, Google, and Facebook. In the program, interns work closely with their managers and a Ladder Coach on real-world projects and present their work to the company. Here is the application form.
Interns are offered one-on-one training in communication, time management, and other such valuable skills and will also have the opportunity to attend group training sessions with other interns in their cohort. The virtual internship is usually 8 weeks long.
Location: Virtual
Application Date: Varies according to cohort. November 10, 2024, for the Winter cohort, and February 9, 2025 for the Spring cohort
Program Dates:
Winter seminar: December 2, 2024 onwards
Spring seminar: March 3, 2025 onwards
Lab dates are flexible, but you must apply 4 weeks in advance
Eligibility: High school students with good academic standing (>3.67/4.0 GPA) can apply. Most accepted students are 10th/11th graders! Only a few tracks require formal prerequisites, more details of which can be found here
Horizon offers trimester-long research programs for high school students across subject areas such as data science, machine learning, political theory, biology, chemistry, neuroscience, psychology, and more! Horizon is one of the very few research programs for high school students that offers you the choice of either quantitative or qualitative research.
Once you select a particular subject track as well as the type of research you wish to carry out, Horizon pairs you with a professor/PhD scholar from a reputed university who acts as a mentor throughout your research journey. As a participant, you will be expected to develop a 20-page research paper that you can send to prestigious journals for publication as a high school student.
This program is a solid opportunity for you to pursue a research program in highly specialized fields under the guidance of a top scholar. The program also provides a letter of recommendation for each student, as well as detailed project feedback that you can use to work on future projects. Apply here!
Location: This program is 100% virtual, with live, interactive workshops
Cost: The total cost to attend the 3-week program is $2,900. There is need-based financial aid
Application Deadline: Varies according to cohort. November 24, 2024 for the upcoming Winter cohort. You can access the application link here!
Program Dates: Multiple, year-round sessions. December 21, 2024 – January 5, 2025 for the Winter cohort
Eligibility: The program is currently open to all high school students
The Young Founder’s Lab is a real-world start-up boot camp founded and run by Harvard entrepreneurs. In this program, you will work towards building a revenue-generating start-up that addresses a real-world problem. You will also have the opportunity to be mentored by established entrepreneurs and professionals from Google, Microsoft, and X.
Apart from building the start-up itself, you will also participate in interactive classes on business fundamentals and business ideations, workshops and skill-building sessions, case studies, panel discussions, and more. The program is an excellent opportunity to delve into the world of business in high school and have a space to explore multiple theoretical as well as practical frameworks that lead to a successful business. You can check out the brochure for the program here.
Program Dates: June 10 – 15, 2025 (tentative, based on the 2024 program)
Location: University of Montana, Missoula, MT
Admission Deadline: April 30, 2025 (tentative, based on the 2024 program)
Cost: Free
Eligibility: High school students
The University of Montana's Safe Empowered Accelerated (SEA) Change summer camp is a week-long program focused on gender equality and empowerment. You’ll have the chance to learn about gender equity and share your own experiences with the cohort. This fully funded program provides students with free on-campus housing, meals, and amenities while they learn how to empower women to make a difference in the world.
Dates: June 24 – 28, 2025 (tentative, based on the 2024 program)
Location: University of Montana, Missoula, MT
Admission Deadline: May 1, 2025 (tentative, based on the 2024 program)
Cost: Free
Eligibility: Students enrolled in Missoula-area high schools
If you are a student from Missoula who is fond of history, this one-week-long camp offered by the University of Montana could be a great choice for you. Although the 2025 program hasn’t been announced yet, it’s likely to be similar in structure to the 2024 program. In 2024, students took a course called ‘U.S. Foreign History Relations with Latin America: Sources and Perspectives,' which charted America’s relationship with various Latin American countries over the 19th and 20th centuries. The course was taught by two UM professors and a graduate teaching assistant.
This program enhances your knowledge through lectures, film viewings, and group discussions. You will also complete a group research project on a topic related to the year’s course material. You’ll analyze a range of historical sources, such as newspaper articles, letters, photographs, and oral accounts to build your argument. The program ends with a research presentation, where each group gets to showcase their findings.
Dates: TBA for 2025
Location: Montana State University, Bozeman, MT
Application Deadline: No information available
Cost: Free
Eligibility: Students entering grades 9-12 from rural Montana communities
This free program offered by Montana State University allows ninth through twelfth graders to explore journalism in theory and practice. Over the course of one week, you’ll learn about the issues contemporary journalists face and refine your reporting skills by covering local stories in Bozeman. Your engagement with the program will continue when you reach home, as you’ll write a journalistic piece about your hometown.
Dates: July 13 – 26, 2025 (tentative, based on the 2024 program)
Location: University of Montana, Missoula, MT
Application Deadline: April 15, 2025 (tentative, based on the 2024 program)
Cost: $3,000. Limited $500 scholarships are available
Eligibility: Current high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors, including international students
The Summer Exploration program offered by the University of Montana gives sophomores, juniors, and seniors the chance to live on the UM campus for 2 weeks and experience college life. You’ll pick one class from the summer catalog. For 2024, students could choose from Montana Habitats, CSI Missoula, Creating Your Own Narrative, and Environmental Ethics: Climate Change and Sense of Place. These courses carry two college credits from the University of Montana.
Dates: June 11 – 20, 2025
Location: University of Montana, Missoula, MT; Flathead Lake Biological Station, Polson, MT; UM’s Lubrecht Forest Field Site, Greenough, MT
Application Deadline: Applications for 2025 will open in December 2024
Cost: TBD
Eligibility: Current high school juniors and seniors
The Schwanke Honors Institute offers students an opportunity to immerse themselves in the campus life and academic environment of the University of Montana's Honors College. For two weeks, you will reside on the UM campus, attending classes, exploring the Missoula community, and experiencing what it's like to be a university student. The program features two environmentally-themed courses, allowing you to delve into important sustainability issues. Upon successful completion of the program, you will earn two college credits.
The 2025 courses are ‘Creative Writing in the Environment’ and ‘Wildlife Wonders: Exploring Ecology and Conservation in Montana.’ In the creative writing course, you’ll conduct field research in the natural settings the program visits. You’ll attend readings and Q&A sessions with Missoula writers and write a portfolio of poetry, creative nonfiction, or short fiction. The ecology course uses the scientific method, introducing you to lab exercises and report writing. You will measure how humans have impacted local wildlife in Montana.
Dates: TBA for 2025. Three sessions were offered in 2024:
Piano: June 16 – 22, 2024
Band, Strings, Jazz, World Music, Song Writing: June 23 – 28, 2024
Jazz: July 21 – 26, 2024
Location: University of Montana, Missoula, MT
Application Deadline: July 10, 2025 (tentative, based on the 2024 program)
Cost: $395 to $1,100, depending on instrument and length of program
Eligibility: Students entering 7th grade through recent high school graduates
University of Montana’s summer music camps offer a diverse range of musical opportunities for students, including in piano, band, strings, jazz, world music, and songwriting. Established in 1952, this program provides a platform for young musicians to explore their talents, collaborate with peers, and learn from experienced professionals. You will have the chance to play in an ensemble, receive individual guidance from UM's faculty, and participate in enriching workshops and masterclasses. To apply, you have to submit an audition tape. See audition requirements here.
Dates: July 8 – 12, 2025 (tentative, based on the 2024 program)
Location: Montana State University, Bozeman, MT
Application Deadline: TBA for 2025
Cost: $300 to $850, depending on commuter/resident status and registration timing
Eligibility: Rising 9-12 grade students
This writing workshop offered by Montana State University’s English department offers a valuable opportunity for teenagers in Montana. The program helps you develop your writing skills in a supportive environment. You’ll have the chance to explore various different genres, including through writing games and exercises. The feedback you’ll receive on your writing will help you improve your work. The program balances recreation with writing practice through activities and games.
13. Dinosaur Camp
Dates: August 11 – 16, 2025 (tentative, based on the 2024 program)
Location: Carter County Museum, Ekalaka, MT
Application Deadline: Rolling
Cost: $1,400
Eligibility: Students entering grades 9-12
This six-day camp offers Montana students a unique opportunity to delve into archaeology and paleontology. You will engage in the excavation and retrieval of fossils, contributing to the collection of the Carter County Museum. You will also identify microsites, harvest plant fossils, and collect amber. Beyond the hands-on experience of uncovering relics, you will also receive exclusive tours of the museum, gaining insights into the preservation and display of historical artifacts.
Dates: July 14 – 18, 2025 (tentative, based on the 2024 program)
Location: Montana Learning Center, Helena, MT
Application Deadline: Rolling
Cost: $850 per camper, includes housing, meals, snacks, supplies and all activities
Eligibility: Students entering grades 9-12
High school students in Montana who are interested in astronomy can study the night sky from the largest observatory in Montana. During nightly ‘star parties,’ you’ll get the chance to observe planets, stars, galaxies, and nebulae. You will learn to identify Jupiter and Saturn, and to identify the different phases of the moon. In addition to these activities, you will also get to participate in scavenger hunts, play games, and practice drawing planets.
Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a Harvard College graduate. He founded Lumiere as a Ph.D. student at Harvard Business School. Lumiere is a selective research program where students work 1-1 with a research mentor to develop an independent research paper.
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