Summer programs

A school year abroad as a Rotary youth ambassador: live with two to four host families, attend high school full-time and learn the language. For the August 2027 departure, southern Alberta applications close November 15, 2026, with interviews in late November. Students in northern Alberta apply through Rotary District 5370.

A paid summer in a UCalgary health research lab the summer after Grade 12, funded by Alberta Innovates. You find a faculty supervisor first, then apply together. Applications open November 23, 2026 and close January 25, 2027; students without a UCalgary ID request one first.

Canada's national training orchestra. Musicians spend the summer in intensive rehearsal and coaching with professional faculty, then perform. No member pays tuition: everyone gets a full scholarship and an honorarium. You apply with an audition video. The application fee rises the later you apply: $50 in the first week of October, $75 to November 30 and $100 after that. Videos are due February 1, 2027.

A seven-week summer at UC Santa Barbara where you are paired with a graduate student, postdoc or professor and carry out your own research project, with lectures on research methods along the way. International students are welcome. Applications for 2027 open December 15, 2026 and close March 8, 2027, with decisions on a rolling basis. It is expensive: in 2026, US$5,675 to commute or US$13,274 living on campus.

Paid six-week health research at ULethbridge through Alberta Innovates' High School Youth Researcher Summer (HYRS), for Grade 11 students. The 2027 program runs July 2 to August 13. Applications close March 26, 2027, and your three references (two science or math teachers and one community member) are due March 29. Afterwards you present your research to a Grade 11 science class.

High school students take college courses for credit alongside Harvard Summer School students, in four- or seven-week sessions on campus, commuting or online. Early and regular deadlines are January 13 and February 10, 2027, and the late deadline is March 31. International residential students get visa sponsorship.

A federal program that funds summer jobs for students at museums, archives, libraries and heritage sites. High school students aged 16 or older qualify. You create an account on the Young Canada Works portal, search the posted jobs and say which interest you. There is no deadline, but most hiring is for summer, so apply in the spring. First-time participants get priority, and travel and lodging may be covered for a job more than 125 km from home.

Paid six-week health research at the U of A through Alberta Innovates' High School Youth Researcher Summer (HYRS). Applications close mid-March.

Paid research in biomedical and health sciences at UCalgary through Alberta Innovates' High School Youth Researcher Summer (HYRS), for Grade 11 students at central Alberta high schools. The award is a $3,000 stipend for six weeks from early July to mid-August. Applications for 2027 launch in January to February 2027.

Student applications open in early March and close in early April for the July-August placement. Paid summer research at the U of A for students underrepresented in STEM, ending with a celebration event in August.

Applications are accepted through the DiscoverE form, with separate intern streams in Edmonton and Ottawa. ELITE is a paid summer program for Black youth in innovation, technology and entrepreneurship.

Applications for SHAD 2027 open in mid-September and close in early January. Month-long STEAM program on a Canadian university campus: solve real-world problems in teams, live in residence, and build a cross-country network.

The high-school stream is InSRA, a six-week paid Indigenous Summer Research Academy ($3,000 award, plus a $500 travel bursary) for students who have completed Grade 11, running alongside HYRS at ULethbridge. There is also a 3-week paid summer intern role for Gr 9+. Dates for the next cycle are not yet posted.

A paid Government of Alberta summer job for 16-18 year olds: seven weeks of forestry, wildfire and conservation work. Intake opens over the winter.

Two fully funded weeks at Perimeter Institute for Grade 11-12 students serious about theoretical physics, with travel, room and meals covered. Perimeter did not run ISSYP in 2024 and has not posted a 2026 or 2027 session, so check with Perimeter before planning on it.

Applications typically close in mid-May for the August session. Week-long dive into quantum information science and cryptography at IQC, University of Waterloo (formerly QCSYS), with lectures, labs and direct researcher access.

Applications open in late November and close in mid-April for the following summer. A free U of T engineering program: a July intensive on the St. George campus, followed by biweekly events from October through February.

Postponed: U of T states Med YSP is pushed to Summer 2027. The program runs hands-on medical modules (human physiology, microbiology) with labs, lectures and discussions for high school students, open to Canadian and international applicants.

Online academic program where students work directly with university tutors to research and draft a university-level paper. Research tracks available in medicine, computer science, engineering, and more. Builds academic writing and independent research skills.

Fully funded scholarships for high school students to join scientific expeditions to the Arctic or Antarctic. Students conduct hands-on environmental and climate field research alongside polar scientists, Indigenous knowledge holders, and global youth peers.

Specialized summer math camps, research workshops, and advanced problem-solving seminars hosted in partnership with UAlberta and UCalgary. Exposes students to university-level mathematical research and connects them with professional mathematicians.

Rigorous virtual research institute for high school students. Accepted students work one-on-one with university professors across disciplines, from neuroscience to computer science, to produce a peer-reviewed research paper over 8 weeks.

Two weeks of university engineering at U of T's St. George campus for Grades 10-12. A paid academy; applications open early March, early-bird round first.

Rigorous global entrepreneurship program where high schoolers form teams to conduct deep market research, prototype a digital or physical tech product, and pitch a fully functioning startup to a panel of investors. MIT-affiliated curriculum.

Specialized enrichment bootcamps run by UAlberta's Computing Science department focusing on applying machine learning algorithms to game design and logic. Students explore AI concepts through hands-on programming projects.

These are childrens camps. Rattlers Athletics and the Child Development Centre run them for ages 6-17, with much of the programming aimed at elementary ages rather than senior high school research.

Registration is closed. UCalgary states the camp form "is no longer available" while the service is being updated. Active Living runs multi-sport and recreation summer camps on campus; sign up for their notification list for the next intake.

The camp runs the last week of July, with registration closing in mid-July. A five-day MacEwan design camp covering graphic design, app design, illustration, photography and videography.

For students aged 16+: Pre-College is a four-week summer immersive covering both Fine Art and Design at university level, and Arts-Bridge is a shorter two-week introduction for students who cannot commit to the full month.

Runs as a full-time summer course from late July to late August. The UCalgary Bioengineering Summer Institute gives high school students lab exposure to biomedical engineering ahead of a Schulich application.

Register through the Community Futures office in your area. YETI is a summer business-training program for senior high school students in the Capital Region: you launch a real business over the summer with startup funding and mentorship, and may earn high school credit.

Application portals open September 14, 2026 for the 2027 sessions. Explore is a federally funded bursary covering tuition, accommodation and meals for a spring or summer French immersion session in another province, for students aged 16 and up.

A residential summer program in university-level mathematics, where students choose their own classes and work on problems with mathematicians. It is free for Canadian families with household incomes under $100,000 USD, with need-based aid above that; aid never affects admission. Dates and location for 2027 are announced in December.

Six weeks of deep work in number theory with about 80 high school students and 25 undergraduate counsellors, built around proving results yourself. Applications for 2027 close at the end of February 2027. Aid for Canadian students is case by case, and every applicant can compete for the full-scholarship Breakout Fellowship.

A six-week residential summer of number theory built on proving everything yourself, at Ohio State or Indiana University. About 60 first-year students per site are admitted, roughly 15% of applicants. The 2026 deadline was March 8; the program aims to fund every admitted student who needs aid, though aid for international students is limited.

Hands-on week-long camps at SAIT in trades and technology: welding, construction, automotive and aviation mechanics, electronics, engineering, computers and media arts, plus career-skills camps for high school students. Each week has its own registration deadline.

A residential research summer in astrophysics (tracking a near-Earth asteroid), biochemistry, bacterial genomics or cell biology, with about 700 students a year and no grades or tests. Admission is need-blind. Applications for 2027 open around the end of December 2026; the 2026 international deadline was January 29, earlier than the US one.

Free virtual summer programs from Girls Who Code Canada, set up to close the gender gap in technology. The Summer Immersion Program runs two weeks of live classes, Monday to Friday, with partner events; Pathways is a self-paced six-week course in web development, cybersecurity, data science or artificial intelligence.

An eight-week, in-person summer placement in health data science and health informatics research, matched to a Centre for Health Informatics faculty member by your interests. The 2026 round opened December 15, 2025 and closed January 5, 2026; expect the same winter window for summer 2027.

First-year-level summer courses and mini schools taught by UBC instructors, without exams, in areas like business and economics, engineering and technology, health and life sciences, media and fine arts, history, law and politics. On-campus students add workshops and social activities; everyone gets a letter of completion.

An intensive residential program where about 80 high school students learn Wolfram Language and computational thinking, then complete an original research project with a mentor. Applications for 2026 closed in March; the 2027 dates and deadlines have not been posted yet. Admission is need-blind.

Live online problem-solving courses for strong math students, with a 90-minute lecture and an hour of problem solving each weekday for three weeks. Students choose from three sessions and can take one, two or all three. The 2027 application rounds have not opened; earlier rounds cost less and get better course choice.

A paid summer in Sunnybrook's focused ultrasound labs in Toronto, helping with engineering, experiments and programming for medical devices that treat the body with sound. Students from outside Toronto can apply if they can work in Canada and find their own place to stay. The 2026 deadline was February 20, with a cover letter, resume, transcript and teacher evaluation.

A paid summer research job at SickKids in Toronto, open to students in their last year of high school who start post-secondary in the fall. You work on a project under a SickKids researcher, who must supervise you, and present at the August symposium. If you have not heard back by early April, the position has likely been filled.

Six weeks of hands-on research at the University of Lethbridge for Indigenous students after Grade 11, in areas from Indigenous Studies and art to genetics, neuroscience and bioengineering, ending in a poster presentation. It runs alongside the HYRS program on campus. Apply with a short essay and a reference from a teacher or community member. The 2024 program ran July 5 to August 16; newer dates are not posted yet.

A free week of field ornithology at an Alberta bird observatory: bird banding, identification, aging and sexing birds, migration monitoring and MAPS survey work, plus bats and butterflies. Food, field trips and instruction are covered; you get yourself to the station and bring a tent and sleeping bag (tents can be borrowed). In 2026 the workshop ran August 8 to 14 and applications closed April 30.

A paid six-week summer internship in a SickKids research lab in Toronto for Black, Filipino and Indigenous high school students. Biology and chemistry help but are not required. You need to be at the lab in person every day. The 2026 program ran July 6 to August 14 and applications have closed; check the Kids Science page for the next round.

A paid eight-week summer internship working full time with a biomedical research group at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute in Toronto. The page sets no rule on where you live, but the work is in person at Mount Sinai or Hennick Bridgepoint Hospital. Places are very competitive. Applications for summer 2026 have closed; a one-week March Break placement also runs.

A free summer program in the physical sciences run by Queen's University's astroparticle physics institute, with an online group for students outside Kingston. Over twelve afternoons you practise asking questions, forming hypotheses, experimenting and analysing data in astronomy, chemistry and particle physics, and students can join their instructors' research projects before presenting at the end. Sessions run 1:30 to 4:30 PM Eastern, which is 11:30 to 2:30 in Alberta. Apply with a one-page letter and a teacher's letter of support; the 2026 deadline was in May.

A paid summer program at CFB Wainwright for Indigenous youth from Western Canada that combines basic military training with cultural teachings led by Elders. You learn drill, navigation, first aid and weapons handling, and finish with the Army Reserve Basic Military Qualification. After it you can stay in the Forces or be released, and some high schools count the time as career experience credits. The Forces pay you and cover travel, food and lodging. Applications usually close at the end of April. The 2026 course, its 37th year, graduated 64 people.

A free five-week humanities seminar in the US: university-level reading, writing and discussion with a small group. There are two tracks, TASS-CBS and TASS-AOS, and you apply to one. Telluride covers tuition, books, room and board and field trips, but does not help with visas. International students, Canadians included, can only apply in Grade 10. The 2026 deadline was December 3, 2025, so expect the next one in early December.

A five-day look at police work for 40 high school students per session. You do fitness training, team building and leadership work, plus lectures and scenarios with units like Canine, Robbery, Air 1, Traffic and Forensics. In 2026 there was a spring session (March 30 to April 2) and a summer session (July 27 to 31), with applications closing February 27. Expect a similar schedule next year.

A three-week pre-professional ballet intensive at Alberta Ballet School in Calgary. Classes include ballet, pointe, pas de deux for some levels, repertoire, variations, contemporary and character dance, plus conditioning. Students in Grades 9 to 12 audition as seniors. Out-of-town students can live in residence at Mount Royal University, with supervised social activities. There are two 2027 sessions.

An overnight filmmaking camp where you go from brainstorming and writing a screenplay to screening a finished film in a week. Professional instructors teach cinematography, directing, editing, sound and acting. The 2026 camp ran July 12 to 17 and is full; 2027 dates are not posted on the camp page yet. YouthWrite offers scholarships, so ask about financial help.

A summer camp where you shadow healthcare workers in areas like nursing, laboratory and pharmacy, meet people across the professions, and work through patient simulation scenarios. Before starting you complete training modules, watch privacy and security videos and sign a confidentiality agreement. It costs $40 a day, with scholarships available. Applications for 2026 have closed; details for 2027 are posted June 1, 2027.