Photo courtesy: www.spacecamp.com

What do you do when it starts getting really hot? Maybe attend a a summer camp in the United States? There you can get a taste of what college has to offer by spending all, or part of your summer on a U.S. university campus.

“I will spend 50 days at Harvard Summer School studying astronomy,” says Natasha Zariwala, 15, who is traveling next month to the Ivy League Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “This will give me college experience and a head start when I do go to college.”

The U.S. Space & Rocket Center (USSRC), at Huntsville, Alabama, which is the official visitor’s center for NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center is another big draw for international students during the summer. It has one of the greatest collections of rockets and space memorabilia and is home to the Space Camp® and Aviation Challenge®, programs designed to educate students as they engage in science, math, engineering and technology-based activities.

“We have at least 70 students from India here next week as well as groups from England and the Virgin Islands. We’re quite the international attraction,” says U.S. Space & Rocket Center Scholarship Manager and Media Liaison Pat Ammons.

Here are five exciting summer programs that let you have fun and learn something that could lead to a future career.

Photo courtesy: www.spacecamp.com

USSRC Space Camp®: At the Advanced Space Academy, trainees aged 15 to 18 take part in missions on International Space Station laboratory modules. Here they can train for a spacewalk using scuba gear in a neutral buoyancy simulator and experience simulators such as the multi-axis chair and the 1/6^th gravity chair as well as participate in a high-ropes challenge course.

It also offers space camp programs for younger students, with Space Camp designed for ages 9 to 11 and Space Academy for ages 12 to 14.

“Space Camp and Aviation Challenge are an exciting and challenging way to interest young people in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math. When you spark that interest, you never know where it will take these students. In fact, Space Camp has more than 600,000 alumni, including five astronauts and one cosmonaut,” says Ammons.

• Where: U.S. Space & Rocket Center, at Huntsville, Alabama.


• When: Available throughout the summer.


• Duration: Programs are offered on a weeklong basis.


• Cost: The cost to attend is $929 plus a $50 non-refundable registration fee for a total cost of $979. This includes the cost of meals and housing here.

Space Camp -- "Get Ready"

 

Photo courtesy: www.spacecamp.com

USSRC Aviation Challenge®: The Mach III program for ages 15 to 18 includes a Top Gun dog-fight competition in fighter pilot simulators. High school students learn land and water survival skills, slide down a 150-foot zip-line into a lake to simulate a parachute water landing and escape and evade enemies on a SEAL Ops mission. They are challenged in the fields of aerodynamics, aeronautics and jet propulsion. This military-style program uses simulated combat scenarios and activities to give trainees an understanding of the basics of flight physiology and wilderness survival.

Aviation Challenge’s Mach I program is aimed at ages 9 to 11, and Mach II for ages 12 to 14. The programs teach trainees shelter building and food procurement tactics and water-survival skills with hands-on activities in an onsite manmade lake.

• Where: U.S. Space & Rocket Center, at Huntsville, Alabama.


• When: Available throughout the summer.


• Duration: Programs are offered on a weeklong basis.


• Cost: The cost to attend is $929 plus a $50 non-refundable registration fee for a total cost of $979. This includes the cost of meals and housing here.

Photo courtesy: www.spacecamp.com

USSRC Robotics Camp and Academy: The Robotics Camp and Academy are aimed at ages 9 to 11 and 12 to 14, respectively. The robotics programs include hands-on sessions in robot chassis design and building, algorithms, remote control design and operation and aerial drone simulations.

• Where: U.S. Space & Rocket Center, at Huntsville, Alabama.


• When: Available throughout the summer.


• Duration: Programs are offered on a weeklong basis.


• Cost: The cost to attend is $929 plus a $50 non-refundable registration fee for a total cost of $979. This includes the cost of meals and housing here.

Robotics Camp and Academy

Harvard Summer School: If you think a school transcript that says ‘Harvard’ on it definitely strengthens it then head straight for Harvard Summer School. The Ivy League university offers over 300 courses in a wide variety of subjects for both undergraduate and graduate credit, as well as  noncredit. Several courses are also offered online.

• Signing-up: Registration for courses is now open through June 26 with a $200 late fee here.


• Tuition: 4-credit course $2,850


• Housing and meals: $5,100


• Harvard Summer School General Program: June 21-August 9, 2014


• Opening Weekend: On June 21 and 22, you move into housing if living on campus, collect your ID card, and learn about campus activities and resources.


• Need help: The Information Services staff can assist you by phone or e-mail. Call (617) 495-4024 or e-mail summer@dcemail.harvard.edu.

Photo courtesy: www.spacecamp.com

University of California: The University of California, Irvine, runs a number of programs for international students during the summer. It has a popular Tourism and Hotel Management program and intensive, three-month-long accelerated certificate programs in Business Administration, Global Human Resource Management, International Business Operations and Management, International Finance, International Business Law, Marketing, Media and Global Communications and Project Management.

“I wanted to challenge myself this summer and develop skills in strategic planning and presentation so I decided to enter a U.S. summer program,” says Rakesh Aggarwal, 23, who has enrolled for an Accelerated Certificate Program(ACP) in Marketing, at the University of California, in Irvine.

The accelerated certificate programs run from July 3 to September 24, and have a tuition cost of roughly $7,500.


Uttara Choudhury is Editor, North America for TV 18’s Firstpost news site. In 1997, she went on the British Chevening Scholarship to study Journalism in the University of Westminster, in London.

Tags: Space, Space Camp, NASA, Astronaut, Harvard University, University of California, Summer Study