Take part in our award-winning summer STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) teen academic programs. Gifted students will engage in experimental research & take exciting field trips. Topics include Biology, Chemistry, Biomedical Engineering, Robotics, STEM Entrepreneurship, and more.
One-week programs allow students with limited free time the opportunity to dive into a unique STEM subject. These are also an excellent way to mix and match several subjects, helping students decide what they feel most passionate about.
Three-week research programs offer an exclusive opportunity for high school students to study at an advanced level. Whether it’s in the lab, on a field trip to Boston’s famed facilities, or presenting their individual project to the class, BLI three-week students join an elite group who experience college-level academia before graduating from high school.
One-week edge programs offer students the chance to get ahead of the curve when preparing for math, science, or AP courses. Whether it’s to get a better score in geometry, get a five in AP Biology, or to strive in Physics, Edge programs will prepare you for that task.
SCIENCE: For students who envision themselves making discoveries in the lab or developing groundbreaking cures, a three-week research program will be a dream come true. Not only do the Science programs allow students the opportunity to clock hours upon hours in the lab, but many are BLI’s flagship programs. Having been honed over time and led by teachers with incomparable lists of accomplishments, these programs are perfect for the future scientist.
ENGINEERING/TECH: Given that engineering is one of the most lucrative career paths, it does a student well to select this area of study early on. BLI offers programs in robotics, aerodynamics, mechanics, and more, all of which require students to develop advanced critical thinking skills and techniques. Whether it be an airplane or a prosthetic limb, high school students rarely have the opportunity to study the inner-workings of our most fascinating technology like they do in BLI’s Engineering programs.
MEDICINE: For students on the pre-med track, there is no better credential to add to a college application than a three-week, competitive admissions research program. Students may practice suturing skills, emergency procedures, or anatomy research, spending hours each day in the lab assisted by experienced TAs and outstanding instructors. Future medical students will thrilled by the active, hands-on nature of BLI’s Medicine programs.
We have one and three week program options. Our programs will run in June through August. See our website for specific program session dates and costs.
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There are really three components to this program, like many other away-from-home summer programs: academics, campus and dormitories, and leisure. Then, my final thoughts.
Academics: I had Rich Fox for forensic pathology for three weeks, and the takeaway as a student is "Wow". There were roughly a dozen in our class, so if there were any issues or suggestions as to the direction of the course (which projects the students thought interesting, particularly), you would not go unheard. Mr. Fox very much knows how to utilize his time and marshal his resources appropriately as we examined live (and dead) insects; cast our own dental, shoe, and finger impressions; and watched Forensic Files with notes pertinent to the forensics topic of the day (and much, much more). With his connections he accessed us to the Boston Police Headquarters through its ballistics, fingerprinting, and DNA labs, as well as the Harvard Museums' art forensics labs--both very enlightening experiences. He, in other words, was never without the sort of passions and commitments of a true teacher.
Campus and dormitories: I'm not one to complain much, but in the dog-days of summer where 90-to-100-degree heat is not atypical, air conditioning in Simmons Hall was absent. Though it was unfortunate that (to my knowledge) it was the only hall not to have AC, it was met at some displeasure that the hallways themselves were hotter that the beautiful and gated (safe) campus grounds. The cafeteria food is average, but board and card games, a BBQ, a gym and swimming pool, and ice-breakers made dorming there at times much easier.
Leisure: There is ample and mostly non-mandatory (though highly recommended!) activities on the afternoons and weekends. Trips to the neighborhoods (accessible by the T (subway) or bus) such as Chinatown, the North and South Ends, and Fenway-Kenmore's Fenway Park, and to museums such as the Isabella Stewart Gardner and the Museum of Fine Arts, quite within walking distance. North up the College's adjacent Brookline Avenue are a multitude of restaurants, a Target, a movie theater, and the nearby train/subway station. All events are scheduled by personable counselors (given enough people) and are reasonable and caring with and for the students.
Final thoughts: BLI, like many other STEM summer programs, is what you make of it. If you don't do any work in the day, stay in the cafeteria in the afternoons, and rest at an early bedtime without exposure to the Bostonian culture, then it's largely not the program's fault for your displeasure. But, for many of us including myself: if you find adequate interest and invest the needed time in your STEM projects, explore the local shops and stores with friends in the afternoons, and immerse yourself in the activities provided amply by the counselors in the evenings, then Boston Leadership Institute will certainly be met, as it largely has been, with high regards.