The University of Akron established the Women in Engineering Program in 1993 to recruit more women into engineering disciplines by providing the tools and resources students need to successfully complete their degrees. They offer multiple summer programs and activities to help engage young women in the field of engineering.
The WordMasters Challenge™ is a national competition for students in grades 3-8 that encourages growth in vocabulary and verbal reasoning. Each year, over 125,000 students from some of the best public and private schools throughout the United States participate in the WordMasters Challenge.
Writopia Lab is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in New York City in April of 2007. Creative writing workshops are offered for kids ages 6 to 18. All of the workshops have a maximum of seven students and are led by a published author or produced playwright who has been fully trained in their time-tested methodology. In each of the past six years, students have won more recognition for their writing than any other group of students in the nation. (Recent honors include: the most regional and national medals from the Scholastic Writing Awards in the nation; the nation’s top 2012 and 2013 Scholastic Awards Scholarships for Gold Medal Portfolioists; the 2012 and 2013 NYC Teen Literary Honor from New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg; a 2013 YoungArts Scholar Award.)
Xanadu Computer App Development Summer Program is a highly competitive and selective academic computing program for rising 10th-12th graders with an interest in pursuing a degree in computer science after graduation. The program is hosted at Maynard Jackson High School in Atlanta, Georgia.
XYZA offers both print and web newspapers for kids who want to stay up to date on current events, including national, world, arts, science, sports, technology, world, entertainment, and more! They also have a Jr. Reporter program that allows kids to submit their own articles, pictures, videos, or comments.
CEF’s You Be The Chemist Challenge® is a collaborative, multilevel academic competition that celebrates the science of chemistry and elevates STEM careers. Fifth to 8th grade students are eligible to compete in teams of four.
The Young Artist Scholarship Competition awards approximately $20,000 in scholarships each year! Scholarships are awarded in each age division and instrument category. First place awards for college are $1,300; high school, $800, and junior high, $550. Second place and honorable mention awards are also granted. First place winners are recognized with a featured concert performance at MacPhail Center for Music, Minneapolis. Additional performance opportunities are also offered to winners.
The Academy of Applied Science’s Young Inventors’ Program is a K-12 Project-based learning program that provides a hands-on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) educational enrichment opportunity to budding youth inventors. The Young Inventors’ Program delivers YIP Kits, invention kits for classrooms, to help schools introduce a fun invention curriculum to their learners in the form of a teachable unit, or via a club or afterschool program that culminates in a school Invention Convention event. The flexible program can be started anytime October-February with a school’s winning inventors being identified by March in order to qualify for the Academy’s Regional Invention Convention Competition with potential to go to the Nationals at the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, D.C. The Academy of Applied Science has a partnership called Invention New England that offers an online training course for teachers for professional development or graduate credit to teachers in NH, MA, ME and Vermont.
YoungArts’ signature program is an application-based award for emerging artists ages 15–18 or in grades 10–12. Selected through a blind adjudication process conducted by an independent panel of highly accomplished artists, YoungArts winners receive financial awards, creative and professional development experiences working with renowned mentors, and become eligible for nomination as a U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts. Joining a 20,000-strong alumni community, YoungArts award winners form a rich network of peers that provides support and opportunities throughout artists’ careers.
Zero Robotics is a robotics programming competition where the robots are SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold Engage and Reorient Experimental Satellites) inside the International Space Station. The competition starts online, where teams program the SPHERES to solve an annual challenge. After several phases of virtual competition in a simulation environment that mimics the real SPHERES, finalists are selected to compete in a live championship aboard the ISS. An astronaut will conduct the championship competition in microgravity with a live broadcast!
