Recommended Extracurriculars

If you're interested in a career in healthcare, the experience of volunteering at a hospital is invaluable. As a high school student, the opportunity to interact with patients and healthcare staff is a rewarding way to learn firsthand how a large medical center operates. Note that during the summer break there is a more intensive 7-week program available. You can choose either clinical (patient care) or clerical (administrative) volunteer assignments.

Many of tomorrow’s rock-star journalists can be found in our prestigious program for high school students, the Medill-Northwestern Journalism Institute (MNJI). This five-week summer institute, also known as the cherub program, is for rising seniors seeking the inside scoop on professional journalism and looking to connect with peers who are just as passionate about pursuing a journalism career.

Explore journalism through the art, technique and storytelling of photography. Students will develop a visual vocabulary through the study of important photographers and photojournalists as well as examine the intersection of art and journalism. As students expand their classroom out into the local neighborhood and the city, they will seek to translate what they see and feel into photographs that express an artistic and narrative perspective. Outcomes for this course include a deeper understanding of what makes images visually, artistically and historically significant. Additionally, students can expect to gain technical photography literacy, participate in diverse field exercises and explore methods, ethics and opportunities for storytelling and journalism through this visual medium.

Sponsored by the Wharton Sports Analytics and Business Initiative (WSABI), the Wharton Moneyball Academy is a summer program that provides an opportunity for talented rising high school juniors and seniors to study sports analytics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. This program focuses on using data to make deep discoveries in sports with a focus on becoming a data driven decision maker. Instruction will focus on fundamentals of statistical thinking, real applications employed by statistics professionals in sports analytics and an introduction to statistical programming languages. In addition to learning statistical reasoning and key data analysis skills, students will be primed to be a leader in an increasingly data driven economy. Topics include introductory statistics (including graphical and numerical summaries of data), basic probability theory, statistical reasoning and regression analysis by examining sports stats.

Yale Young Global Scholars (YYGS) is an academic enrichment program for outstanding high school students from around the world. Each summer, students from over 150 countries (including all 50 U.S. states) participate in one interdisciplinary, two-week session online or at Yale’s historic campus. Immerse yourself in a global learning community at Yale University.