Coding Programs & Competitions for High School Students

These programs teach and exercise real programming skill — bootcamps, project-based academies, and competitive-programming training for high school students.

Many are free and virtual, which makes coding one of the most accessible ways to build a serious technical profile from anywhere.

54 verified programs match this page; 21 of the featured listings are completely free; 12 can be done online.

Featured programs

Browse 30+ curated programs for high school students:

• PennApps Hackathon — University of Pennsylvania: Compete in the nation’s largest student-run hackathon for high schoolers. Build coding skills, innovate in tech, and boost your college applications.
• Kaggle Data Science Competitions — Kaggle/Google: Join exciting online data science competitions for high school students! Build Python coding skills, explore AI, and strengthen your college applicati
• NASA International Space Apps Challenge — NASA: Solve real-world space and climate challenges in NASA’s global hackathon. This free competition lets high schoolers build coding, data science, and te
• American Computer Science League (ACSL) All-Star Contest — ACSL: Top scorers from ACSL compete at All-Stars. Programming and CS theory.
• FBLA Cyber Security and Computer Problem Solving — FBLA: Technology-focused FBLA events. Coding and cybersecurity.
• Processing Foundation Creative Coding — Processing Foundation: Free creative coding resources and community. Learn Processing/p5.js to create digital art and interactive media.
• USA Computing Olympiad (USACO) Finalist / Camp Invitee — USACO: Top ~24 invited to summer camp. 4 selected for IOI team. Most prestigious CS honor.
• Penn Experimental Physics Research Academy — University of Pennsylvania College of Arts & Sciences: Hands-on physics experiments and data analysis at Penn.
• Intel oneAPI Developer Challenge — Intel Corporation: Global coding challenge using Intel's oneAPI toolkit; cash prizes
• NASA App Development Challenge — NASA: Build apps for NASA missions. Winners present at NASA center.
• Lockheed Martin Code Quest — Lockheed Martin Corporation: Programming competition hosted by major defense contractor. Teams solve coding challenges. Exposure to aerospace industry and STEM careers.
• Apple WWDC Student Challenge Winner — Apple Inc.: Winners receive free WWDC ticket and trip to Apple Park
• Project Euler Online Math Challenge — Project Euler: A free online collection of challenging math and programming problems for self-directed learners worldwide.
• SECME AI Contest (High School) — SECME: Explore AI and machine learning in this free high school competition. Build programming skills, analyze energy data, and boost your college applicatio
• CodeCombat Championship — CodeCombat: Compete in a free online coding competition for grades 6-12. Build game AI, enhance programming skills, and boost your college applications with hands
• MIT Battlecode — MIT: Develop coding, AI, and problem-solving skills in this free hybrid competition for high school students. Boost college applications with hands-on prog
• TopCoder Algorithm Competitions — TopCoder: Join exciting algorithm competitions to sharpen programming skills, boost college applications, and gain hands-on experience in STEM. Free and open to
• Major League Hacking Hackathons — MLH: Compete in weekend hackathons for high schoolers (grades 9-12). Build coding skills, create projects, and network with peers. Boost college apps and w
• Code Nation Summer Labs — Code Nation: Free hybrid summer program for high schoolers in grades 9-11. Gain hands-on coding experience, build apps, and enhance college applications. Perfect f
• Microsoft Imagine Cup Junior — Microsoft: Join a global competition to design apps or games tackling real-world issues. Perfect for high school students to build coding skills and enhance coll
• NYU Tandon CS4CS — NYU Tandon School of Engineering: Explore computer science and cybersecurity in this free, hands-on summer program for high school students. Build skills, boost college applications, a
• Veritas AI Program — Veritas AI: AI and machine learning program for high school students in grades 9-12 with project-based learning.
• USA Computing Olympiad (USACO) — USACO: Compete in free online programming contests for grades 7-12 to master coding, algorithms, and problem-solving. Build STEM skills and boost your colleg
• Wolfram Middle School Summer Camp — Wolfram Research: One-week, fully online summer camp from Wolfram Research that teaches girls ages 11-14 programming and computational thinking in Wolfram Language. Tui
• CompSciConnect — University of Maryland Computing Catalyst: Three-year summer academy at the University of Maryland where rising 6th-8th graders progress from Scratch to web development to 3D game design, with
• Mission Bit Coding Classes — Mission Bit: Free semester-long coding classes (Intro to Python, Web Design, Game Design) for San Francisco Bay Area students ages 14-18, taught in person at Missi
• Luddy Precollege Summer STEM Camp — Indiana University Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering: Residential week at IU Bloomington where students entering grades 10-12 use Python, AI, cybersecurity, and robotics to see how computing solves real p
• Girls Make Games Summer Camp — Girls Make Games: Three-week summer camp where girls and non-binary youth ages 8-18 design and program a complete video game, offered in-person in six US cities (includ
• DigiPen Academy Pre-College Programs — DigiPen Institute of Technology: Four-week online summer intensives from game-dev pioneer DigiPen in Game Programming, Game Design, Art & Animation, and Music & Sound Design, for stud
• Code Club (Raspberry Pi Foundation) — Raspberry Pi Foundation: Free coding clubs from the Raspberry Pi Foundation, open to all school-aged young people: members build games, websites, and projects at clubs in scho

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