By Chris Moffitt

Kyle Pickard (Senior) attended an amazing seven-week long summer program at the one and only Harvard University in Boston! “I was able to take 8 credit hours worth of undergrad classes as part of the summer semester at Harvard,” Kyle explains. “I chose two 4-credit courses: Microeconomics and Biostatistics. I took them with actual undergrad Harvard students studying over the summer. I got to live on campus in the freshman dorms and was considered a full Harvard student.”

Kyle was the only high school student in his Biostatistics class. He attended Boston sporting events and many other local activities. And he now has a college transcript with 8 credit units and high grades from Harvard. Wow! Essentially, Kyle got to live every high schooler’s dream — going to college at Harvard!

Josh Putrasahan (Senior) attended an outstanding four-week architecture program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston!

“The program was called URBANFRAME,” Josh explains. “We worked in the architecture studios and warehouse at MIT to design an entire building and construct it within four weeks. We had to work with the client to create something that they needed and make it into something better than they could have expected.”

Josh says what made the program unique is that “we experienced the entire process the architect goes through from the first concepts on paper to the actual building.” That is definitely a feat to be proud of.

Josh’s favorite memory “was the handing off of the building and seeing the faces of the people we were giving it to. It was way more than they ever expected and they were so excited to have it.” Overall, Josh says the program “helped me to see and learn about what an architect has to go through in his job and how the entire process is a team effort.”

Quinn Collins (Junior) attended a prestigious engineering summer camp called UC San Diego Academic Connections.  This, he explains, “was a three-week program, with a total of about 100 students in the program. We all attended different courses.  We stayed at Muir College and had access to a dining hall, the book store, and more.”

This program didn’t just give Quinn a great example of a college experience. He also says, “I definitely learned a lot more about electrical, software, and mechanical engineering.” The students had to build and program a robot to do certain tasks and then at the end of the competition there was a sumo competition where their robots would compete.

“My favorite memories,” Quinn says, “were going to the San Diego beach, singing Youtube karaoke, participating in my engineering courses, and just having fun with new friends.”