15 Programs for Middle School Students in Alaska
- Stephen Turban
- 9 hours ago
- 10 min read
If you’re a middle schooler trying to understand what subjects interest you, joining a program outside your regular classes can help. You get time to concentrate on one topic, meet people with experience in the field, and take part in activities that show you how work is done in professional settings. Participating in a middle school program can give you experience that will be useful when you apply for competitive opportunities in high school.
What programs are available for middle schoolers in Alaska?
Alaska has opportunities for middle schoolers across science, culture, engineering, writing, and environmental studies. Some programs take place in labs or workshops, while others bring you into local landscapes to study how the environment shapes everyday life. Each one gives you a chance to practice new skills and learn beyond textbooks. Picking a local program also helps you avoid long trips and extra housing costs, making them more accessible than out-of-state programs.
With that, here are 15 programs for middle school students in Alaska!
Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Selective
Location: University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, AK
Cost: Fully funded
Dates: Various 7-day sessions, school year sessions, and residential programs offered throughout the school year and summer.
Application Deadline: Varies by program
Eligibility: Open to Alaskan students in grades 6–8
The Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program Middle School Academy gives you an early, inside look at STEM learning in Alaska. The program runs activity days, school year sessions, weeklong experiences, and longer residential camps where you stay on the University of Alaska Anchorage campus. During these sessions, you build your own computer, work on engineering and science projects, and see how math and science connect to careers across the state. You spend time with university faculty, industry professionals, and practicing engineers who guide you through each project and explain the paths that lead into STEM fields. The Academy has become one of Alaska’s most reliable entry points for young students who want meaningful, real-world exposure to science, engineering, and technology.
Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Selective
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies by the program. Full financial aid is available
Dates: Multiple cohorts (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter)
Application Deadline: Rolling deadlines by cohort. The upcoming Winter deadline is December 28
Eligibility: Students in grades 6–8 with high academic standing
Lumiere’s Junior Explorers Program is a selective online research experience for middle school students, designed to build advanced academic writing and research skills. You begin by selecting a subject area, such as STEM, humanities, or social sciences, and are matched with a PhD-level mentor from a top university. Over the course of the program, you receive a structured introduction to your chosen field, then design and carry out an independent research project focused on a real-world question. To strengthen your writing and analytical abilities, you conclude the program by producing a formal research paper that presents your findings.
Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: First-come, first-served (Limited spots)
Location: University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, AK
Cost: Fully funded
Dates: June 9
Application Deadline: May 19
Eligibility: Students entering grades 7–9
The CBPP Summer Academies at the University of Alaska Anchorage give you a chance to try out business thinking in a way that feels practical and hands-on. You will attend workshops on personal finance, entrepreneurship, and leadership, with university faculty walking you through examples. Most of the work happens through activities and small group exercises, so you’re constantly applying what you learn instead of just listening. You also spend time on campus, getting a feel for what college life looks like while exploring different paths in business and entrepreneurship.
Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Selective
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies by the cohort (Financial aid available)
Dates: 25 hours over 10 weeks (on weekends) during the spring and 25 hours over 2 weeks (on weekdays) during the summer cohort
Application Deadline: Rolling
Eligibility: Students in grades 6-8
Veritas AI’s AI Trailblazers is a virtual program designed to introduce middle school students to the core concepts of artificial intelligence and machine learning. Over the course of 25 hours, you will explore Python programming along with topics like data analysis, regression, neural networks, image classification, and AI ethics. The program features a 5:1 student-to-mentor ratio, with learning delivered through a mix of lectures and collaborative sessions. By the end, participants complete a hands-on project tailored to their interests. Past projects have included building music genre classifiers and AI tools that recommend personalized educational resources.
Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Varies by camp, with small cohort sizes
Location: Ilisagvik College, Utqiaġvik, AK
Cost: Fully funded
Dates: Multiple one- and two-week sessions in July
Application Deadline: Typically late May
Eligibility: Students in grades 6–12 (varies by specific camp)
Ilisagvik College in Utqiaġvik runs summer camps that put you right at the intersection of Western science and Iñupiaq knowledge. In programs like Arctic STEM or Allied Health, you will do fieldwork, talk with local elders, and learn from scientists who work in the region. The topics you study tie closely to life in the Arctic, from climate change to community health, so the work feels rooted in the realities of the North Slope. The camps are fully funded for local students, and in many cases, travel is covered too, which makes them accessible to families across the region.
Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Selective
Location: Juneau, AK (travel and accommodations funded for students outside Juneau)
Cost: Fully funded
Dates: June 9–13
Application Deadline: Rolling admission; typically opens in early spring
Eligibility: Students entering grades 6–8 in Southeast Alaska
The Sealaska Heritage Institute’s STEAM Academy blends Southeast Alaska’s cultural knowledge with science and design, connecting STEM work to Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian traditions. Instead of learning concepts in the abstract, you use them in projects shaped by the land and community around you. One day, you may carve a paddle and study the geometry behind its form, and another day, you might work through environmental science lessons that relate to the local shoreline and forests. Throughout the program, you meet artists, engineers, and cultural knowledge keepers who show you how traditional practice and modern STEM fields overlap in real life.
Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Moderately selective
Location: Sitka Fine Arts Campus, Sitka, AK
Cost: $2,425 for residential, $975 for day students
Dates: June 14 – 27
Application Deadline: Registration opens in January and fills quickly
Eligibility: Students currently enrolled in grades 6–8
The Sitka Fine Arts Camp gives you access to classes across visual arts, theater, dance, music, and writing. You choose five classes from a long list of options, so your schedule reflects what you actually want to work on rather than a fixed track. Days are spent in studios and rehearsal spaces on the historic Sheldon Jackson Campus, a place that feels built for making things and trying new ideas. Evenings bring art shares, faculty performances, and campus activities that help you connect with other students who care about the same work you do. By the end of the session, you’ve spent real time building skills, testing out new forms, and being part of a community that treats young artists seriously.
Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Open enrollment
Location: University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, AK
Cost: $250 per session
Dates: Multiple one-week sessions throughout June and July
Application Deadline: Registration typically opens in February and closes once full
Eligibility: Students entering grades 3–12 (sessions divided by age)
The University of Alaska Anchorage College of Engineering runs Summer Engineering Academies that let you spend a week inside university labs working on engineering challenges. Each session takes on a different theme, so you might spend one week programming robots, another building load-bearing structures, or another testing simple energy systems. You design things, troubleshoot them, and then see how your ideas hold up in practice. Faculty and engineering students guide the sessions, giving you a clear look at how engineering is taught and what problem-solving looks like in the field.
Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Limited capacity
Location: Sitka Sound Science Center, Sitka, AK
Cost: Varies by program
Dates: Multiple sessions between June and July, of varying durations
Application Deadline: Registration opens in the spring
Eligibility: Students in grades 7–12
The Sitka Sound Science Center runs the Sitka Adventures Supporting Youth and Ocean Adventure camps, where you will connect engineering with the natural world around Southeast Alaska. You head into the field to study real coastal environments, then come back to the lab to design small projects that respond to what you observed outdoors. One day, you might be testing tools that measure ocean conditions, another day building simple structures that mimic how marine systems work. The mix of outdoor exploration and hands-on problem solving keeps the work grounded in the place you’re studying.
Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Small groups
Location: Cordova, AK. Activities occur across the Copper River Delta, and camping is at Mile 13 campground.
Cost: Keep an eye on the website for current details
Dates: Week-long sessions in summer
Application Deadline: Registration typically opens in the spring
Eligibility: Students entering grades 6–9
The Headwaters to Ocean Overnight Camp gives you a week of moving through Alaska’s waterways, starting in glacial headwaters and ending at the coast. Each day puts you somewhere different—you hike through rainforest, stand near shifting glaciers, paddle across the Copper River Delta, and look at the marine life in Orca Inlet. The science comes naturally because you’re seeing how water systems change right in front of you. You also join small restoration projects that help keep the delta healthy, which makes the idea of environmental stewardship feel real instead of abstract. At night, you stay at the center’s campground and fall into an easy routine with your group after long days outside.
Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Limited capacity
Location: Peterson Bay Field Station (near Homer), AK
Cost: There is a non-refundable deposit of $300, beyond which the pricing is tiered depending on the activities you opt into
Dates: 4-5-day sessions in summer
Application Deadline: Rolling admission until full
Eligibility: Students in grades 4–12
The Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies runs residential programs that place you right inside the ecosystems of Kachemak Bay. You stay at the Peterson Bay Field Station, which is only reachable by boat, so your days revolve around the landscape instead of screens or city noise. You spend time tide-pooling, hiking through coastal forests, and collecting plankton samples to see how the bay’s food webs work. Because the station is so isolated, you settle into a steady rhythm of observing, recording, and asking questions about what you’re seeing. The program leans heavily on field biology and careful observation, and you pick up habits that scientists use when studying coastal environments.
Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Open until filled
Location: University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK
Cost: $375 for half-day sessions, $600 for full-day sessions
Dates: June 2 – 13
Application Deadline: Registration opens in spring (often March/April)
Eligibility: Students in grades 6–12
The Visual Art Academy at the University of Alaska Fairbanks gives you a full stretch of time to work like a real artist. You will learn from practicing artists and faculty in university studios, exploring metalsmithing, digital design, printmaking, and ceramics. Each workshop pushes you to experiment, revise, and build pieces that start to feel like part of a personal portfolio rather than just class assignments. Because you’re in the studio for long blocks of time, you start to understand what sustained creative work actually looks like - how ideas shift as you try new tools, how technique shapes the final piece, how artists think through process.
Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Open enrollment
Location: Kenai, AK
Cost: $425–$675 (depending on Day Camp vs. Overnight track)
Dates: Specific weeks in June and August (e.g., Artemis Mission: June 9–13; Wilderness Skills: Aug 4–8)
Application Deadline: Rolling; registration opens in early spring, and popular tracks fill quickly
Eligibility: Students entering grades 4–8
The Challenger Learning Center of Alaska runs its STEM Academies with a very hands-on approach, and middle schoolers get two very different paths to dive into. In the “Minecraft Artemis Mission to the Moon,” you will work with NASA partners and Minecraft Education to design rockets, plan a lunar base, and run simulations that lead to a live mission inside the center’s Mission Control. It mixes gaming with real aerospace problem-solving, so the work feels playful but grounded in actual engineering thinking. The “Wilderness Skills Academy” shifts you outdoors. You spend your days learning shelter building, basic navigation, and First Aid and CPR, then tie those skills back to the science behind survival. The camp ends with an overnight field experience where you test what you learned in real conditions.
Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Highly selective; applicants need to submit a comprehensive testing report as proof of their abilities.
Location: Virtual
Cost: The program is fully funded, though some events have fees
Dates: Application deadline in mid-February; support is year-round
Application Deadline: Applications are reviewed year-round during specific application periods
Eligibility: Grades K–12; requires specific testing scores
The Davidson Young Scholars program opens its application window in the winter, and once you’re accepted, you join a year-round support system designed specifically for profoundly gifted students. You work with family consultants who help shape an education plan that fits your pace, whether that means enrichment, subject acceleration, or dual enrollment. You also become part of a national community of peers and gain access to programs and opportunities that aren’t available anywhere else. For families looking for long-term guidance and structure, getting an application in during the winter is an important step.
Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Open enrollment (limited spots per camp)
Location: University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, AK
Cost: $350 per camp. Tuition scholarships available for families qualifying for ASD free/reduced lunch
Dates: Multiple one-week camps throughout June
Application Deadline: Register through CampDoc; register early as camps fill quickly
Eligibility: Grades 6–8
The UAA College of Arts and Sciences runs a wide mix of summer camps that let you dive into subjects you probably never get to touch during the school year. In the Bone Detectives camp, you work with skeletal remains and mock crime scenes to understand how forensic anthropology functions. The Book Binding and Printmaking camp has you designing and hand-binding a leather journal while experimenting with relief printing and paper marbling. If you lean toward performance or music, the Guitar Camp focuses on technique and ensemble work, while the Dance Camp moves through ballet, social dance, musical theatre, and choreography before ending with a small showcase. There is even a Papermaking From Scrap camp where you gather natural materials and turn them into handmade sheets and booklets.
Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a Harvard College graduate. He founded Lumiere as a PhD 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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