Summer Youth Programs Enroll 2,285 Youth during Summer 2018

Three School of Education Summer Youth Programs served 2,285 youth during the months of June, July, and August.

COSMOS: California State Summer School for Math & Science

Introduced by the Center for Educational Partnerships in 2000, COSMOS 2018 provided 180 high school students with a four-week residential program featuring STEM lectures and labs taught by UCI faculty and colleagues. Featuring hands-on experimentation, COSMOS instructors guide students in producing a scientific/engineering project drawn from subject matter in one of the nine COSMOS clusters:

• Cluster 1: Engineering for Land, Air, and Space
• Cluster 2: Reasoning About Luck: Probability, Statistics, and Their Uses in Science
• Cluster 3: Tissue and Tumor Biology and Mathematical/Computational Modeling
• Cluster 4: Chemical Biology: Can You Make the Next Billion-Dollar Antibiotic?
• Cluster 5: Sound for Virtual Reality: An Exploration of 3D Sound and Movement Using Mobile Devices and Wearable Sensors
• Cluster 6: Biomedical Sciences-Clinical Translational Science: The Next Generation of Biomedical Research
• Cluster 7: The Big Bang and the Subatomic World
• Cluster 8: Genes, Genomes, and Biocontrol
• Cluster 9: Sustainable Civil Infrastructure: Engineering Needed for California’s Future

Students present their findings on the final day of the program during a culminating poster session prior to a family luncheon and closing ceremonies.

COSMOS students with their heat-generating experimental
roofing ​and algae-producing energy experiment

COSMOS students at the culminating poster session
​showcasing their summer research

Gifted Students Academy (GSA)

This summer 320 students, grades 1-10, participated in the Gifted Students Academy, a program designed to meet the unique academic needs of the gifted. Combining intellectual challenges, creativity, and reflective thinking activities, GSA fosters self-discipline, motivation, and excellence in learning. Students in grades 1-3 and 4-8 select courses in the areas of math, science, language arts, social studies, and the arts, offered in one-week modules over a four-week period. Students in grades 4-8 were able to reside on the UCI campus for an immersive experience on college life. In July,  20 students from China and 20 students from South Korea attended the GSA customized program for International students, socializing in the evening with the 320 students from grades 1-8.

GSA students participating in their mock trial

GSA students in program t-shirts attending a guest lecture

​UCIWP Summer Youth Program

Established in 1984, the UCI Writing Project Summer Youth Program enrolled 1,745 K-11 students in the program's 22 summer offerings on five different campuses. In addition to the Young Writers Workshops, Math Science Workshops, and Afterschool Art & Sports and Fitness, which run in three week blocks, the Summer Youth Program offered a week of SAT Writing Preparation and introduced Digital Storytelling, College Admissions Essay Writing, Public Speaking & Debate, AP Language and Composition Preparation, and PSAT Preparation. Since its inception, the Summer Youth Program has engaged over 35,000 youth during the summer months.
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Summer youth collaborate and research writing topics

A program highlight is cross-age sharing of writing compositions