UC Berkeley Summer Internship Programs for High School Students: An In-Depth Guide

Summer presents a unique opportunity for high school students to explore their interests, gain valuable experience, and prepare for their future academic and professional endeavors. The University of California, Berkeley, a world-renowned institution, provides a diverse range of summer programs designed specifically for high school students. These programs offer a taste of college life, exposure to cutting-edge research, and the chance to develop essential skills. This article provides a comprehensive overview of UC Berkeley's summer internship and enrichment opportunities for high school students.

The Value of Summer Programs

Summer is not just a break from school; it's an opportunity for high school students to delve into exciting educational experiences and explore their passions, as well as showcase their intellectual vitality and initiative. UC Berkeley's summer programs are designed to cater to a diverse range of interests, allowing students to immerse themselves in their chosen fields while experiencing college life firsthand.

Overview of UC Berkeley Summer Programs

UC Berkeley offers a wide array of summer programs for high school students, each with its unique focus and objectives. These programs range from intensive STEM academies to leadership development programs and artistic explorations.

Here are some of the summer programs:

UC Berkeley Pre-College Scholars: Intensive STEM Academy
Global Leadership & Innovation Program
Humanities & the Arts
Entrepreneurship & Business Academy
Berkeley Freshman Edge
College of Environmental Design (CED) Summer Programs
Legal Studies & Mock Trial
Media Production & Digital Storytelling
Berkeley Changemaker

UC Berkeley Pre-College Scholars: Intensive STEM Academy

For high school students passionate about science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM), UC Berkeley's Pre-College Scholars: Intensive STEM Academy provides a transformative experience. This program goes beyond traditional high school coursework, offering participants a glimpse into college-level challenges and research opportunities. Students engage in hands-on projects, collaborate with like-minded peers, and have access to Berkeley's cutting-edge STEM facilities.

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The program's curriculum is carefully crafted to strike a balance between theoretical knowledge and practical application. Through a series of workshops, seminars, and laboratory sessions, participants not only deepen their understanding of STEM disciplines but also develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The program's immersive nature allows students to explore potential career paths, gain insights into ongoing research, and make informed decisions about their academic and professional futures.

Global Leadership & Innovation Program

For those high school students harboring aspirations of becoming future leaders and innovators, UC Berkeley's Global Leadership & Innovation Program offers a unique blend of academic rigor and leadership development. The program aims to broaden participants' perspectives on global issues, fostering critical thinking skills and honing their ability to address complex challenges.

Throughout the program, students engage in thought-provoking discussions, collaborative projects, and hands-on activities that encourage them to think beyond traditional boundaries. The emphasis on global citizenship and ethical leadership prepares participants to navigate an interconnected world responsibly. By the end of the program, students not only gain a deeper understanding of global issues but also develop the leadership qualities necessary to drive positive change in their communities and beyond.

Humanities & the Arts

Artistic souls and literary minds find their haven in UC Berkeley's Humanities & the Arts program. Beyond the traditional classroom setting, this program encourages high school students to explore the depths of literature, philosophy, and the arts. Through engaging seminars, workshops, and hands-on projects, participants discover the intersection of creativity and intellectual inquiry.

One of the unique aspects of this program is its integration with Berkeley's rich cultural scene. Students have the opportunity to attend performances, visit museums, and draw inspiration from the eclectic energy of the city. Whether delving into classic literature, experimenting with artistic expression, or examining philosophical concepts, participants in this program embark on a journey of self-discovery and creative exploration.

Entrepreneurship & Business Academy

For the budding business moguls and entrepreneurs, UC Berkeley's Entrepreneurship & Business Academy is a gateway to the world of innovation and commerce. This program is not just about theoretical business concepts; it's a hands-on experience that immerses high school students in the dynamic realm of entrepreneurship. Through workshops, case studies, and mentorship opportunities, participants gain practical insights into the intricacies of the business world.

The program culminates in a capstone project where students develop and pitch their business ideas. This real-world application of knowledge allows them to hone their presentation and teamwork skills while receiving feedback from industry professionals. By the end of the program, participants leave with a solid foundation in entrepreneurship and a sense of empowerment to turn their innovative ideas into reality.

Berkeley Freshman Edge

Freshman Edge is a specially designed program for newly admitted freshmen who have been admitted to UC Berkeley for the coming fall. Freshman Edge gives students an early start on their Berkeley experience by offering them the opportunity to take courses that fulfill breadth, prerequisite, and major requirements ahead of most incoming students, learn about the campus and its many resources before fall semester through our orientations and workshops, and build community with their peers through socials and programming events. Freshman Edge participants not only get a head start on their Berkeley experience but also save money by paying a more affordable per-unit summer rate for their courses.

College of Environmental Design (CED) Summer Programs

In College of Environmental Design (CED) Summer Programs, you’ll explore multiple aspects of environmental design and learn how to conceptualize and communicate your ideas in both 2D and 3D. Engage in a transformational learning experience through drawing, digital representation, and hands-on model building, as well as lectures, discussion groups, and field trips throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.

Each program is known for its engaged teaching style - highly skilled instructors and accomplished professionals review your work one-to-one and in small groups. You’ll also meet and collaborate with students with similar passions and build a strong portfolio of design work. In addition, you’ll gain college-level credit for passing the program. Programs in architecture, city planning, landscape architecture, and sustainable environmental design will fire your imagination, stretch your mind, and set you on the path to achieving your goals.

Legal Studies & Mock Trial

For the aspiring lawyers and advocates among high school students, UC Berkeley's Legal Studies & Mock Trial program provides a comprehensive introduction to the world of law. Participants are immersed in a curriculum that covers constitutional law, legal ethics, and courtroom procedures. What sets this program apart is the emphasis on practical application through mock trials, providing students with a taste of the legal profession's complexities.

Led by experienced legal professionals and Berkeley faculty, participants gain insights into the nuances of legal reasoning and argumentation. The program fosters critical thinking and effective communication skills, essential for success in law and various other professions. Through engaging discussions and firsthand experiences, high school students leave with a heightened understanding of the legal system and the skills necessary to pursue a career in law.

Media Production & Digital Storytelling

In an era dominated by digital media, UC Berkeley's Media Production & Digital Storytelling program equips high school students with the skills to navigate and thrive in this dynamic landscape. The program goes beyond the basics of media production, offering hands-on experiences in scriptwriting, video editing, and digital content creation.

Berkeley's vibrant atmosphere serves as an inspiring backdrop for participants as they develop and refine their creative voices. The program encourages exploration of diverse storytelling mediums, allowing students to express themselves through podcasts, videos, and other digital formats. As participants hone their media production skills, they not only gain technical expertise but also learn the art of crafting compelling narratives that resonate in today's interconnected world.

Berkeley Changemaker

The Berkeley Changemaker is a visionary leadership training program built for those currently leading strategic change or aspiring to do so. This unique and specialized course is rooted in UC Berkeley's core principles-including questioning the status quo and going beyond yourself-and in its longstanding association with thought leadership and innovation.

From inspiring change to stimulating action, the Berkeley Changemaker provides a wealth of new knowledge and hard skills to help you apply strategic thinking to your change management processes, discover new sources of purpose, and leverage your vision to spark action in others. You’ll learn how to embody an entrepreneurial spirit to spot new opportunities, galvanize high-impact teams, overcome obstacles, communicate with clarity, and fully step into your role as a changemaker.

Additional Internship and Research Opportunities

Beyond the specific programs listed above, UC Berkeley and affiliated institutions offer various other internship and research opportunities for high school students.

Stem Cell Research Program

The proposed program is a collaboration between two institutions that collectively represent a range of exciting stem cell research opportunities. The proposed program augments an established summer research program that has been providing biomedical research experiences to high school and college students for 30 years. The proposed program will inform and increase the awareness of high school students in stem cell research during a formative time of their lives. It is anticipated that a positive and nurturing summer experience will help stimulate their interest to pursue a career in stem cell research. The proposed program will provide high school students with an excellent opportunity to be exposed to stem cell research. It will inform and increase the awareness of high school students in stem cell research during a formative time of their lives. It is anticipated that a positive and nurturing summer experience will help stimulate their interest to pursue a career that involves stem cell research.

Inspirit AI Scholars Program

Interested in showcasing your intellectual vitality and initiative during high school? Find out how YOU can apply artificial intelligence to the subjects that interest you in InspiritAI’s AI Scholars Program. Students in the Inspirit AI Scholars program craft interdisciplinary AI projects engaging subjects of personal interest to them. InspiritAI Mentors hail from a range of top universities such as Stanford, Harvard, and MIT. Additionally, many students who have participated in the AI+X Individual Research Mentorship have gone on to win prestigious awards at various science fair competitions!

The Lawrence Hall of Science

Elevate your teen’s learning journey through our unrivaled, hands-on, research-based approach that brings science to life with real-world applications. In one dynamic week, your teen will delve into the college experience, conducting real scientific research in a university lab, networking with esteemed students and faculty, and exploring diverse STEM career paths.

Other Science Programs

Animal Behavior: Delve into the science of animal behavior, learning how researchers describe and decode the motivations behind animal actions in both natural and controlled environments. You’ll even conduct your own observational experiment.
Medical Innovations: Explore and deepen your knowledge of body systems, investigate how some of these systems may break down, and explore how scientists and engineers work to solve these problems.
Deep Space Exploration: Learn block-based coding to overcome engineering challenges as you build and program your own model satellite for deep space exploration.
Solar Energy Applications: Explore exciting solar energy applications while designing and building solar-powered gadgets to solve real-world challenges. Learn electrical circuitry, become familiar with the iterative design process, and hear from engineering professionals about their cutting-edge work.
The Science of Well-Being: Explore the science of well-being, collecting and analyzing data to generate ideas about what changes could have the most impact.
Biodesign: Explore the exciting field of Biodesign and learn how scientists are taking inspiration from the natural world to spark innovation in biology and engineering.
Gene Editing: Explore the exciting biotechnology field and learn how scientists use CRISPR to accurately and efficiently change organisms’ genes accurately and efficiently. This program also explores ethics in the applications of gene editing.
Artificial Intelligence: Explore cutting-edge AI technologies, concepts, and ethics as you learn about ongoing artificial intelligence research from Berkeley scientists and experts. This program is offered in partnership with Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Research Lab.
Data Analysis and Coding: See how data analysis and coding are used to solve real-world problems as well as create and present your own data visualization of a global phenomenon.
Ecosystems Research: Step into the shoes of an ecologist and learn how scientists study and protect terrestrial ecosystems in the face of climate change. You will pursue your own research into the local ecosystem, determine investigative parameters, collect and analyze data, and visualize and present your findings. This program takes place at UC Santa Cruz.
Marine Biology: Step into the shoes of a biologist and experience firsthand the investigative work, exciting discovery, and fun of ocean science. You will pursue your own research into the local ecosystem, determine investigative parameters, collect and analyze data, and visualize and present your findings. This program takes place at UC Santa Cruz.

SEA (Summer Experience in Applied Science and Engineering)

SEA’s high school programs are geared towards building professional skills, cultivating a network, and preparing for college and careers. Participating in SEA can also be a step toward a summer internship at Berkeley Lab.

SAGE (Summer at JBEI for high schoolers)

SAGE is a one-week summer camp for public high school students (age 14-17) to share what life is like in STEM professions. Throughout the week, students will participate in job shadowing, hands-on projects, professional development, and more!

Experiences in Research

Experiences in Research are summer internships for students to gain hands-on experience with professionals at Berkeley Lab. Students will be working directly on cutting edge projects alongside experts in STEM. Projects will be focused around different aspects of STEM such as administration, communications, experimental research, and more.

iCLEM (Introductory College Level Experience in Microbiology)

The Introductory College Level Experience in Microbiology (iCLEM) is a paid summer science intensive for high school students hosted by the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI). The program seeks to broaden students’ understanding of biotechnology, microbiology, and biofuels.

QCaMP (Quantum Computing and Machine Learning)

At QCaMP, you will get a primer on computing fundamentals, learn hands-on about quantum physics, and apply those phenomena to solve computing problems in new ways. QCaMP is for high school students and participants receive a learning stipend.

Program Staff and Supervision

Teens are supervised at all times from sign-in to sign-out. The teen to staff ratio ranges from 1:12 during classroom instruction (20-25 teens per title) to 1:8 during residential times (28-40 teens per session). Free time is always in designated areas with staff including our visits to UC Berkeley bookstore or venturing out for frozen yogurt in downtown Berkeley. Staff includes adult professionals, graduate students, and undergraduate students. All staff go through a background check and participate in specialized educational, logistical, safety, and neurodiversity training.

Some of the instructors and educators include:

Aly Colasanti: An environmental educator and scientific illustrator dedicated to making science accessible and inspiring for the next generation.
Jacob: A student at the University of Southern California, pursuing a degree in Neuroscience on a pre-health track.
May Cho: A graduating senior at UC Berkeley, majoring in Nutritional Sciences.
Lane Moyer: An enthusiastic science educator with a background in recreation and environmental sciences.
Myroslava Fisun: An incoming third-year undergraduate at the Rausser College of Natural Resources studying Society and Environment with plans to pursue graduate studies in law.
Karla: A graduate from Sacramento State who will pursue a master’s degree in Bilingual Education.
Josephine Grell: A graduate of the University of Washington, Seattle where she received her B.S. in Marine Biology with a minor in Climate Science.

Practical Information for Participants

Communication of Unique Needs

CampDoc (also known as DocNetwork), an electronic health record system, is used to collect participants’ information securely. CampDoc is designed to protect your teen’s privacy while alerting us to details such as allergies or dietary restrictions, medical or medication needs, special learning or social needs, and other home or life situations that might affect your teen’s participation.

Grade Level Restrictions

Participants cannot register for programs designed for grade levels other than their own.

Program Locations

All middle school programs take place this summer at UC Berkeley. All high school programs, EXCEPT Session 3, also take place at UC Berkeley. Session 3, which includes Marine Biology and Field Ecology will take place at UC Santa Cruz.

Residential Add-On

Teens will share dorm housing with one or two other teens. Rooms include bunk beds (extra-long twin bed size), desks, shelves, drawers, hooks, a closet/bar for hanging clothes, a mirror, and a microwave and mini-fridge. There are bathrooms on each floor with personal privacy doors. All the rooms and the bathroom on each floor are designated gender specific (one floor for girls and another floor for boys).

Meals

Yes, to help demystify the college campus experience, all teens will eat a provided lunch in a campus dining hall such as Crossroads or Cafe 3, both of which we have used in the past. Lunch costs are automatically included in the price of the program. Campus dining halls can accommodate most dietary restrictions as part of their regular offerings. All teens are supervised during the lunch period, and the dining hall will be shared with other groups over the course of the summer.

What to Pack

All teens should pack a hat, water bottle, sunscreen, and personal snacks for the day. For the safety of others, we ask that you not include any food containing tree nuts or peanuts. If your teen requires any medications throughout the day, there will be a place for you to share that information in CampDoc.

Technology

Phones, tablets, and other similar devices should be stowed in your bag during program times. Phones and other devices are permitted during breaks and other designated times. The program is designed to increase socialization, collaboration, and small-group work.

Dismissal Form

We encourage parents to sign the ‘Teen Program Dismissal Form’ at the time of registration so that teens can arrive and leave independently with the conclusion of programming.

Financial Aid

There is a growing need for financial aid. This year we are extending aid to more families and at two levels- 90% and 10% off the publicized price.

Testimonials

Here are some testimonials from past participants:

“I loved this program and was excited to go to it every single day!"
“It was a great program that sparked intellectual curiosity and new friendships and demystified the college experience."
“It was an amazing experience! The exposure to the scientific method, application, presenting skills, and residential experience. Exposure to college students and the college ambiance were illuminating. New friendships were forged."
“It was literally so amazing to visit a research lab. I genuinely realized I wanted to work here in college for sure, and it made me happy to recognize the equipment they were using and ask questions. It all just kind of came together like a puzzle being solved."
“What could be better: your teen growing academically and socially, with a highly driven peer group, and having the time of their life?"
“I loved seeing the people teaching us about STEM. They’re all really fun, which shows that STEM doesn’t have to be all work or frustration with errors."
“I really liked the dissections we did, as well as being able to observe and touch real human organs."
“It was so fun."

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