Competitions
St. Bonaventure University's CS Department offers a programming contest for high school aged students. The 2015 winners were from Williamsville North High School (congrats!). For information about the contest, please click here to view the SBU CS contest page.
Carnegie Mellon University has picoCTF, which is a security game geared toward middle school and high school students. Students form teams to compete and beat a series of challenges that teach / utilize coding skills to help teach security and ethical hacking. Please see their site for more information.
STEAM Subscriptions
Tinker Crates - Subscription order STEAM / maker style crates geared for kids! Great way to get them started in the makerspace and technology. For more information, please see the links for the separate age brackets below.
Target age group: Crates for 0-3 yrs (cricket), 3-4 yrs (koala), 5-8 yrs (kiwi), and 9-16+ yrs (doodle and tinker)
STEAM Events
Future Girl Engineer Day - 2018 date is Mar 10th, 10 AM - 4 PM, hosted at UB South campus. STEM stations to play with demos, slime, and talk with women in engineering. There are 25 seats this year, so please register ASAP.
Target age group: ages 6-14 years
Day of the Girl - Created by local teen girls for local teen girls, with a broad focus of careers and skills that young girls will need to know as they grow. BuffaloVibe article announcing the 2017 event, which was Oct 7th.
Tech Savvy Buffalo - Inspriring girls with a day of STEM activities in mid-March, geared for 6th - 9th and 10th - 12th grade girls. Must pre-register.
Organizations
ChickTech - Organization geared toward providing hands on STEAM experiences for girls. Chapter based, current chapter in NY is in NYC.
Target age group: K-12
Summer Programs in WNY
Summer Engineering Camp - 2018 dates are Jul 23-27 and Aug 20-24, hosted on UB South campus. From the event page:
Our summer programs involve hands-on activities (and can usually be quite messy!), and allow children to become engaged with university engineering students and professionals in STEM fields. Each day of our summer program begins with a thematic intro activity, followed by the STEM Challenge of the Day. STEM Challenges will differ each week, as we encourage children to participate in both weeks.
Target age group: ages 6-14 years
Pop Up Parks - Bringing play to kids! Brings tools, volunteers, and recycled materials for kids to build whatever comes to their minds. From their site:
Through our one day temporary events we provide: Real tools such as hammers, saws, and drills, Variety of scrap raw materials; Variety of fasteners and hardware, A t-shirt with space for the children to write their name; Volunteers that help keep the event organized, A healthy lunch and water, An empowering experience, An environment that encourages the kids to direct their own creations and builds, An environment where failure is considered a success and often encouraged!
Target age group: young children through approximately middle school with a parent / guardian to supervise them. See site for details.
BEAM Summer Program - BEAM is a cooperative educational enrichment program that prepares inner city, minority, female and other under-represented students for careers in science, engineering and technology. Students will spend 4 - 5 weeks participating in enrichment activities that provide intensive instruction in the topics of mathematics, science, communications, and computer applications.
Target age group: grades 8-12
Blossom Scholastic - Has a weeklong day camp program around mid-August and a hackathon in April. Students learn and experience entry level programming, algorithms, and robotics using Linux and Raspberry Pis.
Target age group: ages 8-12 yrs
Tinker - Tinker is a unique, one-week summer engineering camp for high school girls! Participants will have the opportunity to explore the diverse fields of engineering through hands-on projects, workshops, presentations, and visits to local engineering companies.
Target age group: students starting grades 9-11 in the fall
UB GenCyber Camp - Middle school and high school students ages 13 and over are eligible to apply for the UB GenCyber Camp. Students of all backgrounds and skill levels are welcome to join! There are a limited number of spots available at this free camp, so please make sure to keep an eye for when admission opens and get your spot early.
Target age group: students aged 13+
BEAM, Tinker, and UB GenCyber are all offered through SUNY University at Buffalo. For a complete list of summer camps offered through UB, including non-STEAM camps, please click here.
Summer Programs Outside of WNY
Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth - The Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth identifies and develops the talents of the most advanced K-12 learners worldwide. As part of Johns Hopkins University, CTY helps fulfill the university’s mission of preparing students to make significant future contributions to our world. Both summer programs and remote classes are available.
Target age group: programs available for students grade 2-6 and 7-12
Summer Institute for the Gifted - The mission of the Summer Institute for the Gifted is to provide the highest quality educational and social opportunities for academically gifted and talented students through programs designed to meet their abilities and needs. SIG is hosted by several college campuses across the United States.
Target age group: students aged 9-17
Summer Science Program - Each summer, academically-gifted high school students study mathematics, physics, astronomy, and programming at the Summer Science Program (SSP). The program is held at two locations: in Boulder, Colorado (on the campus of the University of Colorado), and Socorro, New Mexico (on the campus of New Mexico Tech), with 36 students and 7 faculty at each campus.
Target age group: students starting grades 11-12 in the fall, although some 10th graders accepted.
Please see the FAQ for more information. Also, here is a news article from the Camas-Washougal Post about a teen from that area who attended SSP in the summer of 2016 at the New Mexico Tech campus.
Additional Opportunities in WNY
BEAM Saturday Academy - BEAM is a cooperative educational enrichment program that prepares inner city, minority, female and other under-represented students for careers in science, engineering and technology. Participants meet twice a month on Saturday mornings to work on projects such as building solar cars, or creating Lego Mindstorm robots. Some groups participate in culminating events and competitions that allow them to test their creations and compete with students from other areas.
Target age group: grades 7-12
Distance Learning Opportunities
Northwestern Center for Talent Development - Gifted LearningLinks offers engaging gifted online courses and programs, including family programs, enrichment, core essentials, honors, and AP courses for gifted and talented students in kindergarten through grade 12. Eligible home schooled, elementary, middle or high school students can accelerate and broaden their knowledge base any time and any place. GLL courses provide rigorous, individualized instruction helping gifted students to achieve their educational goals.
Target age group: online programs available for grades 3-12
Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth - The Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth identifies and develops the talents of the most advanced K-12 learners worldwide. As part of Johns Hopkins University, CTY helps fulfill the university’s mission of preparing students to make significant future contributions to our world. Both summer programs and remote classes are available.
Target age group: online programs available for students pre-K - grade 12