9 Summer Public Health Programs for Middle School Students in Chicago
Middle schoolers in Chicago interested in public health and medicine can consider participating in summer programs. These programs are designed to engage you with a rigorous curriculum that builds your knowledge. Practical activities and experiments are a way for you to develop hands-on skills relevant to the field. Thus, summer programs are a means for holistic development.
Beyond academics, you hear from professionals in the field who take you through their career journey. Collaborative projects and assignments become part of your portfolio while helping you develop teamwork skills. Thus, if you are looking to make the most of your summer, you can choose from the following list of programs.
9 Summer Computer Science Programs for Middle School Students in Chicago
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies; financial aid available
Dates: 8 weeks, varies by cohort
Application Deadline: Varies according to cohort
Eligibility: Students in grades 6 to 8
If you want to conduct original research in public health, you can participate in Lumiere’s Junior Explorer Program. You are paired with PhD mentors from prestigious universities, such as Harvard, Oxford, MIT, and Princeton, who are experts in public health and other STEM fields. As you work on the research paper, you learn how to read and interpret academic literature, build research questions, and create outputs such as a high school-level research paper or case study. The program equips you with scientific communication skills through feedback and writing coaching sessions. You can opt for the Junior Research and Publication Program, where you can publish your research in academic journals.
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Location: UI Health, Chicago, IL
Cost: Not specified
Dates: To be announced
Application Deadline: To be announced
Eligibility: Students in grades 6 – 8
UI Health offers pre-college programs for middle and high schoolers to explore careers in healthcare. EOP is designed to provide academic and technological resources for academic enrichment. Middle schoolers can consider various pathways through this program, including pharmacy and public health. The program helps you develop skills in writing, media literacy, and research. It also prepares you for post-secondary success in the medical and science fields. You can also progress to the high school programs to prepare for healthcare careers.
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies; financial aid available
Dates: 25 hours over 10 weeks (on weekends) during the spring cohort and 25 hours over 2 weeks (on weekdays) during the summer cohort.
Application Deadline: Rolling deadlines
Eligibility: Students in grades 6 – 8
Veritas AI’s AI Trailblazers program is an interdisciplinary option that helps you learn about public health as well as technology. The program begins by teaching you the basics of AI and machine learning. It covers a range of related topics like Python, data analysis, regression, image classification, neural networks, and AI ethics. Thereafter, you move to the practical component that involves a project. You apply your learnings to solve a public health challenge using technology. In the past, students have built a machine-learning model to classify music genres and a machine-learning algorithm to provide a custom list of educational resources based on selected specifications.
Acceptance rate/cohort size: 10 – 14
Location: Rosalind Franklin University, North Chicago, IL
Cost: None
Dates: Runs as a Saturday enrichment program throughout the school year, exact dates vary
Application Deadline: Applications open in the fall
Eligibility: Students in grades 4 – 8
This program is held over two years for middle schoolers to get acquainted with medicine and healthcare. The program is scheduled to include interactive case studies, experiments, anatomy exploration, and role-model mentorship. You learn about the different organ systems, conduct experiments and dissections, and discover the latest healthcare technology. The program provides a holistic view of medicine and public health. You complete quizzes and assignments. You participate in a final science fair project where you select a disease, complete research assignments throughout the year, and present a poster.
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective
Location: Virtual
Cost: $1,420
Dates: To be announced
Application Deadline: To be announced
Eligibility: Students in grades 7 – 11 who meet CTY-level quantitative or verbal scores
Doctors make crucial decisions involving patient health. In this program, you learn about the anatomy and physiology of various body systems, such as gastroenterology, endocrinology, nephrology, and microbiology. You then analyze various diagnosis and treatment methods and explain the purpose, effectiveness, and reasoning for why particular diagnostic tools are chosen. You learn to analyze various diseases, compare symptoms, and explain their impact on the human body. The program also covers the ethical conundrums faced by doctors.
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective
Location: Virtual
Cost: $575
Dates: To be announced
Application Deadline: One week before the start date
Eligibility: Students entering grades 6 – 8 who meet the Emerald-tier eligibility criteria
This program by Northwestern CTD also considers the investigative work carried out by doctors to examine and treat diseases. Thus, you learn how healthcare providers diagnose illnesses, interpret symptoms, and solve complex health mysteries. You work on real case studies to understand how various body systems work in sync, analyze symptoms, and consider diagnoses. The program covers topics like infectious diseases, genetics, environmental health, and medical technology, which are crucial aspects of public health. For the final challenge, you apply your learning to a medical mystery case and present your diagnosis using scientific evidence and reasoning. Thus, you build critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Location: Virtual
Cost: $1,895
Dates: Various sessions of different lengths are available
Application Deadline: Varies according to session
Eligibility: Students aged 13 and older
An important aspect of public health also involves regenerative medicine and other technological advancements. Through this program, you discover how science and innovation enable the repair and regeneration of the human body, which has lasting impacts on public health. You explore techniques and technologies used in regenerative medicine to analyze challenges like vascularization and tissue integration. The program covers how regenerative medicine addresses critical challenges like organ shortages, tissue repair, and disease treatment. You examine practical examples and real-life case studies to solidify your learning. For the final project, you propose regenerative medicine treatments, develop three approaches for individual cases, and consider social, economic, and ethical factors.
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Location: Various locations; can be organized at your school
Cost: Not specified
Dates: To be announced
Application Deadline: To be announced
Eligibility: Middle school students
REACH offers a range of summer programs for elementary, middle, and high school students. The Vitals for STEM Success program is an after-school program for students interested in STEM and especially healthcare. You are introduced to various career pathways in healthcare, including what tracks are available and how you can get started in your chosen field. You learn to work in teams to solve real-world challenges in healthcare, such as using robotics to design a solution for medical triage in a disaster or brainstorming an approach for fighting a disease epidemic. The program equips you with practical skills that are useful in any field you opt for.
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Location: Online
Cost: $1,895; scholarships are available
Dates: Various sessions of different lengths are available
Application Deadline: Varies according to session
Eligibility: Students aged 13 and older
In this Georgetown University program, you delve into patient treatment and their journey. This program is concerned with the various systems and professionals who are part of the healthcare team, thereby providing insights into the public health mechanism. You learn about the various roles of a healthcare team and explore treatment plans for three cases: a kidney transplant, vascular disease, and cancer. You hear from specialists from different healthcare fields who provide insights into their career paths. For the final project, you design an ideal healthcare team for congestive heart failure or thyroid cancer, which must include 5 healthcare providers. You define their specific role and the different elements of patient care that take place in and outside the hospital.
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.