15 Programs for Middle School Students in Tennessee
- Stephen Turban
- 13 hours ago
- 10 min read
Have you ever been curious about what a subject looks like beyond homework and class notes? A middle school program gives you space to explore your interests outside school. You get to participate in guided activities and figure out which subjects interest you before you begin high school. Middle school programs can also help you develop academic skills that will prepare you for high school, like time management and analytical thinking.
What programs are available for middle schoolers in Tennessee?
Tennessee has a good spread of programs that introduce students to science, engineering, creative writing, public speaking, environmental learning, and cultural studies. Some programs put you in labs or workshops where you test simple ideas and work with tools. Others take you outdoors to study local wildlife or teach you how different creative fields approach their work. The experience you gain becomes a useful stepping stone for future applications, whether for high school enrichment, camps, or competitive summer programs.
With that, here are 15 programs for middle school students in Tennessee!
Location: Franchise centers across the U.S., including Nashville
Cost: Often free to schools; costs vary widely by location
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Open enrollment; class sizes usually range from 8 to 16
Dates: Available year-round during the academic calendar; summer camps and holiday workshops are also offered
Application deadline: Varies by location and program; early registration recommended
Eligibility: Students ages 4–14; grouped by age for appropriate curriculum
Engineering For Kids offers after-school classes that introduce middle school students to engineering and technology through practical, design-based activities. Depending on the course, you may build rockets, create bridges, or program robots while following the engineering design process from brainstorming to testing. Some sessions focus on technology skills, including 3D modeling, simple game design, and beginner-level programming using accessible software. Themed classes, such as Minecraft-based workshops, blend creativity with lessons in sustainability, city planning, or environmental engineering.
Location: Remote
Cost: Varies depending on program. Financial aid is available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective
Dates: Multiple cohorts throughout the year
Application deadline: Multiple rolling deadlines for JEP cohorts across the year; you can apply using this application link! If you'd like to take a look at the cohorts + deadlines, you can refer to this.
Eligibility: Students in grades 6 – 8
The Lumiere Junior Explorer Program is an eight-week online research experience where middle school students work one-on-one with PhD mentors from universities such as Harvard, MIT, and Stanford. During the early weeks, you explore several academic fields like biology, computer science, or social sciences, before narrowing your focus to one area. Weekly meetings guide you through research design, source analysis, and writing skills that gradually build toward a structured final project. Once you choose your topic, you work with your mentor to refine a research question and outline the steps needed to investigate it. The program concludes with a research paper, case study, or multimedia project that reflects the methods you learned.
3. 4-H Programs
Location: Nationwide (organized by local county extension offices)
Cost: Typically free or low-cost; some events or projects may have fees
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Open enrollment; club sizes vary by county
Dates: Available year-round
Application deadline: Rolling; sign up through your local 4-H office or extension website
Eligibility: Youth aged 5-18 with some state-specific variations; full participation begins at age 8, with Cloverbud programs for ages 5–7
4-H Programs give middle school students across Tennessee access to learning in areas such as STEM, agriculture, environmental science, healthy living, and civic engagement. Local clubs typically meet weekly or biweekly during the school year, allowing you to work steadily on long-term projects with guidance from trained volunteers supported by university extension offices. Depending on your interests, you might build robots, raise animals, conduct environmental studies, or practice public speaking, with each project following a clear learning framework. Many students present their work at county or state fairs, where projects are evaluated and displayed for the community.
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies depending on program
Application deadline: Rolling deadlines. You can apply to the program here.
Program dates: 25 hours over 10 weeks (on weekends) during the spring cohort and 25 hours over 2 weeks (on weekdays) during the summer cohort.
Eligibility: Students in grades 6-8
Veritas AI’s AI Trailblazers is a 25-hour online program designed to introduce middle school students to fundamental concepts in artificial intelligence through small-group instruction and project-based work. The curriculum begins with Python programming and progresses to topics such as data analysis, regression, image classification, and neural networks, giving you a sense of how AI systems operate behind everyday technologies. Sessions include live instruction, coding challenges, and consistent mentor feedback thanks to a 5:1 student-to-mentor ratio. Ethical considerations are built into the course, encouraging you to think about fairness, bias, and responsible use of machine learning tools. By the end of the program, you will have completed a small project that reflects your understanding of the core concepts.
Location: Nationwide; finalists travel to Washington, D.C. for finals
Cost: Free to enter via nomination from an affiliated science fair
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Top 300 projects selected nationally; 30 finalists attend finals week
Dates: Finals week held in fall; dates vary annually
Application deadline: Students must be nominated between February 1 and June 11 through an affiliated science fair
Eligibility: U.S. students in grades 6–8 who are nominated by a Society-affiliated science fair
The Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge is a national competition for middle school students who demonstrate strong investigative skills through original science or engineering projects. To reach the national stage, you must first compete in a Society-affiliated local or regional science fair, where the top 10% of participants are nominated for the challenge. Nominees complete an online application describing their project methods and how their work connects to scientific or engineering principles. From these entries, 300 students are recognized nationwide, and 30 finalists are invited to Washington, D.C, for hands-on challenges and project presentations. Finalists participate in team-based activities designed to test collaboration, communication, and experimental reasoning. Awards include major prizes such as the $25,000 ASCEND Award, along with several category-specific recognitions.
Location: Offered through participating schools and educators
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Open to all students at participating schools; not selective
Dates: Varies by school or district; can run for several weeks or a full semester.
Application deadline: No formal application; students participate through their school.
Eligibility: Students in grades 8–12; typically offered in math, science, or computer science classes
Bootstrap’s Data Science Course introduces students to computational thinking and data analysis by integrating coding into subjects such as math, science, and social studies. Delivered in school settings by teachers trained in the curriculum, the program shows you how to interpret real-world datasets, visualize trends, and use statistics to support conclusions. Projects often connect to familiar topics like sports analytics, civic issues, or environmental patterns, so you can see how data is used to answer practical questions. The curriculum includes coding components that help you write programs to explore patterns and relationships within the data. Developed in partnership with Brown University and UC San Diego, the course aligns data science concepts with grade-level standards.
Location: Knoxville campus
Cost: Varies by camp
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Small class size
Dates: Multiple weeklong camps in June–July
Application deadline: Rolling; opens on February 24
Eligibility: Open to rising 3rd through 12th graders
Kids U at the University of Tennessee runs weeklong, half-day camps that let you explore a single subject without the pressure of a full summer program. Each session focuses on a specific area like robotics, chemistry, engineering design, photography, anthropology, or other STEM and arts topics, and the work is built almost entirely around hands-on activities. UT faculty, staff, and trained instructors guide the sessions, keeping the pace practical and interactive rather than lecture-heavy. Camps follow a three-hour morning or afternoon schedule through June and July, so you can mix and match different interests across the summer.
Location: Nashville
Cost: $625
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective
Dates: June 2 -12
Application deadline: Opens January 15
Eligibility: Open to rising 6th - 12th-grade girls
Harpeth Hall’s STEM Summer Institute brings you into a collaborative setting where middle and high school girls work on engineering and design problems in the Nashville community. You and your team choose a challenge, research the issue, sketch ideas, and build multiple prototypes while learning how to test and adjust your designs. The program also takes you into local labs and introduces you to women working in STEM, giving you a grounded sense of how professionals approach technical problem-solving. As the session wraps up, you present your prototype to engineers and scientists who offer direct feedback on how your design could work in the real world.
Location: 65+ locations across the U.S., including Vanderbilt University
Cost: Varies by location and course
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Small cohort size; up to 8 students per instructor
Dates: Week-long camps between May – August
Application deadline: Varies by camp and location
Eligibility: Students aged 7 – 17
iD Tech Summer Camps give middle school students structured, week-long opportunities to explore coding, robotics, 3D modeling, and game design on university campuses. Small classes capped at eight students per instructor allow you to receive consistent guidance as you work through hands-on technical tasks. Depending on the course, you may build a basic app, design a simple video game, or program a robot using languages like Python or Java. Some sessions offer specialized tracks, including girls-only programs such as Alexa Café, which blend creative and entrepreneurial elements with technology. The schedule varies by location, but each session follows a project-based format that encourages you to practice new skills immediately.
Location: Multiple locations across the U.S.; Virtual option also available.
Cost: Varies according to different locations and sessions, more details here (financial aid available)
Acceptance rate: No information available
Dates: Varies according to different locations and sessions
Application deadline: Rolling
Eligibility: Students in grades 6-8
The Pre-Med Readiness Summer Intensive Program by MPP Academy is built to give you an early, structured look at how medicine actually works. Over one or two weeks, you will take short intro courses in anatomy and physiology and attend skill labs where you practice taking vitals, doing basic wound care, administering injections, and learning simple suturing techniques. Medical simulations put you into mock patient scenarios so you can see how clinical decisions and communication play out in real time. The program for middle school students in Tennessee also folds in sessions on academic planning, financial literacy, and the college pathway, giving you a clearer sense of what comes next if you want to pursue healthcare.
Location: Austin Peay State University, Clarksville
Cost: $79-$169, depending on course
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Small cohort size
Dates: Multiple camps in June and July
Application deadline: Varies by camp
Eligibility: Open to rising 3rd through 12th graders
APSU Coding Camps introduce middle school students to programming and digital design through week-long, half-day sessions taught in Austin Peay State University’s computer labs. Camps are led by APSU Computer Science and IT undergraduate or graduate instructors who use materials similar to what college students encounter, giving you a preview of higher-level coursework in an accessible format. Sessions cover themes such as Roblox game development, Minecraft-based programming, website creation, and 3D video game design with Godot, with all tracks designed for beginners. VisionCraft weeks add a leadership component by blending Minecraft-themed challenges with exercises that strengthen communication, teamwork, and problem-solving. You will work on projects daily, but also take part in real-world activities connected to each theme.
Location: Remote and in-person options available across the U.S. and internationally
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Open to all; no selection process
Dates: Ongoing during the school year; clubs typically meet 1–2 hours per week after school or on weekends
Application deadline: Rolling; students join through their local school or community club
Eligibility: Open to students in grades 3–12; no prior coding experience required
Girls Who Code Clubs provide free, community-based spaces where middle school students can learn computer science through guided projects and peer collaboration. Meetings take place at schools, libraries, or online, allowing you to join a club that fits your schedule and experience level. Younger participants often start with block-based coding, while those with more background may work in Python, JavaScript, web development, or game design. Mentors and facilitators help you troubleshoot, debug, and refine your work as projects progress. Some clubs also include modules on AI literacy, explaining how common algorithms operate behind digital platforms.
Location: Virtual
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; approximately 12 students per cohort
Dates: Three-week summer course (July 7–25) followed by weekly fall meetings (August 27–December 10)
Application deadline: March 20
Eligibility: Students in grades 6-7 from low-income families (household income under $90,000 annually) who reside in and attend school in the United States; minimum B- grade average required
The Stanford Middle School Scholars Program gives you a structured path into advanced academics by blending a summer course with fall semester support. You start with a three-week virtual class taught by Stanford instructors, choosing from subjects like math, philosophy, political theory, or media literacy. After that, you meet weekly from August to December for online sessions that focus on academic writing, study habits, and preparing for selective high school admissions. Families are kept in the loop through check-ins and informational meetings so everyone understands how you’re progressing.
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies by course; Financial aid offered
Acceptance rate: No information available
Dates: Available year-round
Application deadline: Varies by cohort
Eligibility: Middle school students
Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth offers online courses that let you move beyond standard middle-school material and study subjects at a deeper, more challenging level. You can choose from areas like astronomy, computer science, engineering, math, creative writing, or history, and work through lessons with regular assignments, discussions, and instructor feedback. You might spend a session modeling planetary motion, writing your own short fiction, testing code, or working through unusual math problems that don’t show up in a typical classroom.
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies by course; financial aid available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective
Dates: Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer sessions
Application deadline: Rolling
Eligibility: Students in grades 3 to 8 who either score in the 90th percentile or above in the required subject, have completed a CTD course in that subject in the past two years, or submit a report card or transcript with a teacher recommendation.
Northwestern University’s Center for Talent Development (CTD) Online Enrichment program gives middle school students the opportunity to study advanced or interdisciplinary topics through flexible virtual courses. Classes combine weekly lessons, assignments, and instructor feedback, with topics ranging from programming and robotics to creative writing, philosophy, and aerospace-related concepts. You typically spend two to five hours per week on coursework, supported by pacing guides that help you plan deadlines and manage tasks. Each course includes two live online sessions that encourage interaction, discussion, and problem-solving with peers. At the end of the course, CTD issues a personalized evaluation outlining your strengths and areas for growth.
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 in which students work one-on-one with a mentor to develop an independent research paper.
Image Source - Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge logo