15 Computer Science Programs for High School Students in Maine
Participating in a computer science program while still in high school is an excellent way to explore one of the fastest-growing and most influential fields today. Whether you're interested in programming, artificial intelligence, data science, cybersecurity, or engineering, these programs provide opportunities to build practical skills while working on projects that extend beyond the typical high school curriculum. Many also offer mentorship from researchers and industry professionals, helping you gain a better understanding of both academic pathways and careers in technology.
Why should you attend a computer science program in Maine?
Maine offers a diverse range of computer science opportunities that combine technical learning with a strong culture of research and innovation. You can explore computer science through immersive camps, learn coding and computational thinking in project-driven environments, analyze real scientific datasets through NASA-affiliated research experiences, and even apply programming skills to aerospace and engineering challenges such as CubeSat development. Programs hosted by universities and research institutions across the state also provide access to laboratories, faculty mentors, and cutting-edge research, allowing you to see how computer science intersects with fields like healthcare, sustainability, biology, and space exploration.
To help you find the right opportunity, we've compiled a list of the 15 computer science programs for high school students in Maine.
If you’re looking for STEM programs in Maine, check out our blog here.
Key takeaways
These 15 programs span AI, bioinformatics, cybersecurity, semiconductor engineering, robotics and automation, CubeSat design, computer hardware, and data science, so students with a wide range of computer science interests can find a relevant option in Maine or online.
Several programs are free or paid, including JAX Summer Student Program ($7,500 stipend), University of Maine Semiconductor Camp (free), Chip Moody Consider Engineering (free), USM CubeSat Competition (free), NASA GL4HS (free), and University of Maine SELF (free), while MIT BWSI and Stanford AIMI offer financial aid for eligible students.
Several programs are unique to Maine institutions, including University of Maine Semiconductor Camp, AMC B.O.T. Loft Robotics Camp (with a pathway to an official Universal Robots credential), USM CubeSat Design Competition, and Maine Cyber Range Cybersecurity Camp, making them strong local options for Maine students.
Programs vary significantly in length and format, from two-day cybersecurity labs, such as Maine Cyber Range Cybersecurity Camp, to ten-week NASA-affiliated research experiences, such as GL4HS, so students can choose based on their availability and depth of interest.
Application deadlines for the most competitive programs fall early, including JAX Summer Student Program (January 26), Stanford AIMI (February 21), and USM CubeSat Competition (February 20), so students should begin preparing materials in the fall.
1. JAX Summer Student Program (SSP)
Location: The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME
Stipend: $7,500
Acceptance rate: Highly selective
Dates: May 30 – August 7
Application Deadline: January 26
Eligibility: Graduating high school seniors (18+) who are U.S. citizens/permanent residents
This intensive residency places you in an independent biomedical research facility to focus entirely on computational biology and bioinformatics. You’ll be paired with a professional scientific mentor to design and execute a standalone, data-driven project. Your work will involve using high-performance computing resources to process and analyze massive genomic sequencing datasets that exceed the capacity of standard systems. You will learn how to write custom scripts, query relational databases, and use statistical modeling packages to uncover genetic markers. The program mirrors the life of a professional data scientist, complete with laboratory standups, data review meetings, and research writing. The summer concludes with a formal symposium where you present your data and findings to the resident scientific community.
2. Veritas AI
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies by program
Acceptance rate: Selective
Dates: Several cohorts year-round
Application Deadline: Varies by cohort. You can apply here.
Eligibility: High school students; The AI Fellowship requires completion of the AI Scholars program or prior experience with Python
Veritas AI, founded and run by Harvard graduate students, offers programs for high school students who are passionate about artificial intelligence. Students who are looking to get started with AI, ML, and data science would benefit from the AI Scholars program. Through this 10-session boot camp, students are introduced to the fundamentals of AI & data science and get a chance to work on real-world projects. Another option for more advanced students is the AI Fellowship with Publication & Showcase. Through this program, students get a chance to work 1:1 with mentors from top universities on a unique, individual project. A bonus of this program is that students have access to the in-house publication team to help them secure publications in high school research journals. You can also check out some examples of past projects here and read about a student’s experience in the program here.
3. University of Maine Semiconductor Camp
Location: Barrows Hall, Orono, ME
Cost/Stipend: None
Cohort size: ~22 students
Dates: July 6 – 10
Application Deadline: June 30
Eligibility: High school students
The Semiconductor Camp introduces you to the hardware foundations of computing by breaking down the logic behind the modern microchip. You’ll transition from basic computing concepts like bits and logic gates to building physical circuits and mapping transistor behaviors. The curriculum relies heavily on interactive, game-based learning models designed to make deep electrical engineering theories accessible to high school students. Outside the laboratory, you’ll go on an industry field trip to the Texas Instruments facility to see how microprocessors are manufactured at scale. By the end of the camp week, you’ll apply your new skills to test, program, and run a complete semiconductor system of your own making.
4. Lumiere Research Scholar Program
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies by program
Acceptance rate: Selective
Dates: Several cohorts year-round
Application Deadline: Varies by cohort
Eligibility: High school students
The Lumiere Research Scholar program pairs you with a PhD mentor to investigate an academic topic of your choice through a structured research process. You’ll begin by examining existing scholarship and learning the foundations of academic research before narrowing your focus to a topic of interest. If you’re pursuing a computer science-related project, you may investigate areas such as artificial intelligence, data science, software systems, or computational theory while developing skills in literature review, analytical thinking, and technical communication. Throughout the program, you'll work closely with a researcher to refine your ideas and produce a substantial research paper that demonstrates your understanding of a specialized topic.
5. Upward Bound
Location: Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME
Cost/Stipend: None
Acceptance rate: Selective
Dates: 2-year program
Application Deadline: Rolling
Eligibility: First-generation college-bound or limited household income students who attend one of these high schools
This academic enrichment program helps you prepare for college through a combination of coursework, mentorship, and hands-on learning experiences. Throughout the program, you'll strengthen your skills in subjects such as mathematics, science, writing, and critical thinking while working closely with instructors and advisors. You’ll also receive guidance on college admissions, financial aid, and career exploration, helping you navigate the transition from high school to higher education. Through workshops, campus experiences, and collaborative activities, you'll gain greater confidence in your academic abilities and develop the habits needed for college success.
6. Sustainable Engineering Leaders of the Future (SELF)
Location: University of Maine, Orono, ME
Cost/Stipend: None
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: June 21 – 27
Application Deadline: April 30
Eligibility: High school students
This residential program introduces you to STEM and engineering career pathways through hands-on experiences at the University of Maine. Throughout the week, you'll explore ongoing research projects through laboratory demonstrations, interactive activities, and field trips that showcase how engineers and scientists address real-world challenges. The program draws on expertise from multiple university departments and research institutes, giving you exposure to areas such as sustainable materials, forest bioproducts, engineering innovation, and applied scientific research. Beyond the academic components, you'll connect with peers, researchers, and STEM professionals while participating in recreational activities on campus.
7. Chip Moody Consider Engineering Program
Location: University of Maine, Orono, ME
Cost/Stipend: None
Cohort size: 44 students/session
Dates: July 12 – 15; July 19 – 22; July 26 – 29
Application Deadline: April 15
Eligibility: Rising high school seniors
This program gives you a preview of technical college majors, with a focus on computer-aided engineering and digital problem-solving. You’ll work alongside university engineering faculty to complete a sequence of intensive design, logic, and optimization challenges. The curriculum teaches you to apply computing logic, numerical spreadsheets, and material calculations to troubleshoot complex industrial errors. Over four days, you’ll participate in roughly 20 distinct lab activities, ranging from automated manufacturing tasks to systematic material stress testing. You will interface with professional engineers and industrial computers to see how automation and computational tracking control modern production plants. The program concludes with a major team-based engineering design competition judged by active industry experts.
8. Build Your Own Computer Camp
Location: University of Maine, Orono, ME
Cost: $1,065
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: July 20 – 24
Application Deadline: July 18
Eligibility: Students aged 12 – 16
The Build Your Own Computer Camp is a hands-on computer science camp that lets you build your own desktop computer by focusing directly on physical assembly and system configuration. You will begin the week by collecting raw electronic components and learning the roles of motherboards, central processing units, RAM sticks, and power delivery networks. Once the mechanical assembly phase is complete, the focus shifts to BIOS configuration, storage formatting, and operating system deployment. You will learn how to initialize local networks, troubleshoot boot sequence errors, and optimize driver profiles for system stability. The instructors walk you through hardware diagnostics, teaching you to trace faults using systematic testing routines. At the end of camp, you get to keep the PC you built, along with the foundational skills to upgrade and manage computer systems at home.
9. AMC B.O.T. Loft Robotics Camp
Location: The AMC B.O.T. Loft, Orono, ME
Cost: $1,950
Cohort size: 12 seats/session
Dates: July 12 – 17, July 19 – 24, and July 26 – 31
Application Deadline: Rolling
Eligibility: Students aged 13-17
This computer science program brings you straight into an active industrial manufacturing space to learn the programming logic behind collaborative machinery. You will spend your days hands-on with industrial arms and mechanical platforms, moving past recreational toys to work with production-grade equipment. The curriculum emphasizes automation script writing, spatial logic coordinate tracking, and hardware-software integration loops. Experienced automation engineers will guide you through standard industry challenges, teaching you how to troubleshoot physical system errors through your source code. A major highlight of this track is the structured path to earn an official Universal Robots Credential in Educational Robotics Training. Your final project will require you to script a continuous, automated routine that models real industrial assembly tasks.
10. USM CubeSat Design Competition
Location: Qualification and challenge flights take place at the University of Southern Maine, Portland, ME
Cost/Stipend: None
Cohort size: 24 teams
Dates: From registration to the week of May 18
Application Deadline: February 20
Eligibility: 6th-12th graders across Maine
This engineering competition challenges you to design, build, and test a CubeSat capable of completing a real mission objective. As part of the program, you'll learn the fundamentals of spacecraft systems through virtual coursework covering computer-aided design, Arduino programming, mission planning, communications, and wiring. Teams develop proposals that address specific technological objectives, considering factors such as payload design, communication systems, and mission feasibility. Working with a mentor, your team will develop a satellite payload, integrate hardware and software components, and troubleshoot design challenges under realistic constraints. By the end of the competition, you'll have gained hands-on experience with programming, embedded systems, and engineering design while contributing to a fully functional CubeSat project.
11. Cybersecurity Summer Camp
Location: Maine Cyber Range, Augusta, ME
Cost/Stipend: $50 (scholarships available); Unpaid
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: July 14 – 15
Application Deadline: Rolling
Eligibility: Maine middle and high school students
Operating out of a dedicated cybersecurity testing facility, this two-day lab trains you to investigate live digital evidence and defend networks. You will run simulated investigations inside the Simspace Cyber Range, a software platform that replicates real infrastructure attacks. The instructors show you how to trace malicious scripts, track unauthorized access attempts, and isolate compromised data files. A major focus of the coursework explores emerging threats in artificial intelligence, showing how automated defense systems are bypassed or fortified. You’ll work in incident response teams to patch software bugs and make critical security decisions under time constraints. The session concludes with a live defense scenario where you apply system security policies to block simulated automated hacks.
12. Stanford AIMI Summer Research Internship
Location: Virtual
Cost/Stipend: $2,400 (financial aid available); Unpaid
Cohort size: 50 students/session
Dates: Session A: June 15 – 26; Session B: July 6 –17
Application Deadline: December 15 – February 21
Eligibility: Rising high school students (14+)
This virtual computer science internship introduces you to the growing field of artificial intelligence in medicine. Working with mentors affiliated with Stanford’s Center for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine and Imaging, you’ll explore how machine learning tools are used to improve diagnostics, medical imaging, and healthcare decision-making. The program combines lectures, research activities, and collaborative projects that expose you to both the technical and ethical dimensions of AI-driven healthcare. Along the way, you’ll develop skills in data analysis, scientific inquiry, and research communication while engaging with cutting-edge medical technologies. By the end of the internship, you’ll have completed a research project and gained insight into one of the fastest-growing intersections of technology and medicine.
13. MIT Beaver Works Summer Institute
Location: Virtual
Cost: $2,400 (free for families earning <$200,000)
Acceptance rate: Selective
Dates: July 6 – August 1 or 2
Application Deadline: March 30
Eligibility: U.S. 9th-11th graders
Run by the MIT Lincoln Laboratory, this computer science program challenges you to build and optimize complex software systems. You can select specialized technical tracks, such as autonomous RACECAR programming, cybersecurity defense networks, or cognitive assistant AI design. The curriculum relies on a team-based setup where you may write Python code to control virtual simulation environments or process real-time sensor streams. Instructors emphasize algorithmic optimization, teaching you how to build fast, data-handling pipelines that make independent decisions. You’ll spend your days collaborating with your teammates, mapping out software architectures, and testing your code logic against automated test suites. The month ends with a competitive virtual grand finale where teams deploy their software to solve complex, timed mission objectives.
14. GeneLab for High Schools (GL4HS)
Location: Virtual
Cost/Stipend: None
Cohort size: Max. 1000 students
Dates: June 1 – August 28
Application Deadline: March 15
Eligibility: Rising high school juniors and seniors with a 3.0+ GPA who have completed at least one biology course and are U.S. citizens/permanent residents
This NASA-affiliated research program introduces you to the intersection of biology, data science, and space exploration. Using datasets from real spaceflight experiments, you'll investigate how living organisms respond to the unique conditions of space while learning the computational techniques scientists use to analyze biological data. The program emphasizes bioinformatics, genomics, and data analysis, giving you hands-on experience working with large scientific datasets. By the end of the program, you'll have completed an authentic research project and gained valuable exposure to how computer science tools are used to answer complex biological questions.
15. Joy of Coding
Location: Virtual
Cost/Stipend: $149 (financial aid available); Unpaid
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: 6-8 weeks of self-paced courses from June 17 – August 28
Application Deadline: Rolling
Eligibility: High school students (13+) who have taken algebra
This introductory computer science program helps you discover programming through creative, hands-on projects and collaborative learning. Beginning with the fundamentals of coding, you’ll learn how to think computationally, solve problems systematically, and build simple software applications. Lessons emphasize experimentation and exploration, allowing you to see how programming concepts translate into interactive programs and digital tools. Along the way, you’ll work alongside peers and mentors while gaining exposure to the broader world of computer science. By the conclusion of the program, you’ll have created several coding projects and developed the confidence to pursue more advanced computing opportunities.
Frequently asked questions
1. What computer science programs are available for high school students in Maine?
Options include biomedical and computational biology programs, such as JAX Summer Student Program, AI and data science programs, such as Veritas AI, Stanford AIMI, and Lumiere, cybersecurity programs, such as Maine Cyber Range Cybersecurity Camp and MIT BWSI, hardware and engineering programs, such as University of Maine Semiconductor Camp, Build Your Own Computer Camp, and AMC B.O.T. Loft Robotics Camp, space and CubeSat programs, such as USM CubeSat Competition and NASA GL4HS, and introductory coding programs, such as Joy of Coding.
2. Are there free computer science programs for high school students in Maine?
Yes, JAX Summer Student Program is free and provides a $7,500 stipend; University of Maine Semiconductor Camp, Chip Moody Consider Engineering, USM CubeSat Competition, NASA GL4HS, and University of Maine SELF are all free. MIT BWSI is free for families earning under $200,000, and Stanford AIMI and Joy of Coding offer financial aid for eligible students.
3. Which Maine programs are best for students interested in cybersecurity?
Maine Cyber Range Cybersecurity Camp provides hands-on incident response training inside a dedicated cybersecurity testing facility, and MIT BWSI offers a cybersecurity defense track focused on building and optimizing secure software systems.
4. Which programs are open to students outside Maine?
Veritas AI, Lumiere, Stanford AIMI, MIT BWSI, NASA GL4HS, and Joy of Coding are all fully virtual and open to students anywhere. JAX Summer Student Program accepts U.S. citizens and permanent residents regardless of state, and USM CubeSat Competition is open to students across Maine.
5. When should I apply to computer science programs for high school students in Maine?
JAX Summer Student Program closes January 26, Stanford AIMI closes February 21, and USM CubeSat Competition closes February 20. NASA GL4HS closes March 15, and MIT BWSI closes March 30. Programs, such as University of Maine Semiconductor Camp (June 30), AMC B.O.T. Loft Robotics Camp, and Joy of Coding, accept rolling applications, so students should apply as soon as registration opens.