Summer 2025
Applications are open.
Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ (Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ) offers high school students the opportunity to deepen their interests by enrolling in an online, one-credit college course that covers a range of topics, from international diplomacy and law to psychology and neuroscience. By enrolling in an Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ High School Summer Scholars course, students will experience stimulating, rigorous, and personalized college-level learning. Classes are accessible via Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ's Canvas platform, providing flexibility for students to engage with coursework at times that suit their schedules. Over four weeks, students will have the chance to explore new fields of knowledge, guided by expert faculty and tailored to spark intellectual curiosity.
Asynchronous Format: The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ credit course is taught online in a self-paced, asynchronous format, allowing flexibility in completing reading and writing assignments. Instructional content may include pre-recorded lectures, podcasts, documentaries, and faculty-led discussion boards. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ faculty remain involved and accessible to students during the courseÌývia Canvas and office hours conducted using Zoom or Skype.Ìý
Course Dates:ÌýCourses are offered over two sessions during the 2025 summer.
Course Selection: Students should select the course that best suits their interests. Because the nature of instruction is asynchronous and there are no live sessions, it is possible to enroll in more than one course. See course offerings below.
NOTE: To enroll in more than one course, students must obtain program permission by emailingÌýhsss@american.edu.
Eligibility: Rising sophomores, juniors, and seniors with a minimum 3.0 GPA.
Academic Expectations:ÌýStudents will be assigned reading and writing assignments appropriate for a one-credit college-level course. Although the assignments will vary by instructor and topic, students should understand that each course will require a minimum of five to ten hours per week, inclusive of watching pre-recorded lectures and assigned videos, participating in online discussion boards, and completing course readings and writing assignments.ÌýÌýStudents are expected to observe assignment deadlines and submit their work via Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ’s Canvas platform.
Course Tuition: Tuition is $1,004Ìýper course, a significant discount from Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ’s standard undergraduate tuition rate due by June 1, 2025.
NOTE:ÌýFor students accepted after June 1, 2025, the deposit and tuition must be paid in full.
Instructor Access:ÌýInstructors are committed to your success. They will remain accessible throughout the entire course via email and/or office hours conducted using Zoom or Skype.
Course Materials:ÌýAll readings and course materials will be available on Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ’s Canvas platform. There are no additional fees required.Ìý
How to Apply:ÌýTo enroll in the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Summer Scholars program, visit theÌýand follow the application directions.ÌýStudents should emailÌýhsss@american.eduÌýif they seek permission to enroll in more than one course.
Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ AccountÌýSet-Up:ÌýOnce a student's application is approved, a $100 non-refundable deposit is required to reserve their spot. After the deposit is received, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ sends detailed instructions for creating an Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ user account. Students must create their accounts promptly to avoid delays in accessing their courses. Instructions for accessing courses via Canvas will be emailed in mid-May.
Application Deadline: Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, soÌýapply earlyÌýto secure your spot. Be sure to submit your application by one of the following deadlines:
Act now!ÌýEarly applications have the best chance for admission and availability.
Applications submitted after these dates will be considered as space permits. We encourage you to apply early to secure your spot and look forward to reviewing your application!
Questions:ÌýPlease feel free to email the High School Summer Scholars team at hsss@american.edu or by phone at (202) 885-2442.
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This course will focus on needed reforms in the United States criminal justice system. Emphasis will be placed on race, policing, prosecutions, and mass incarceration. Guided by leading activists in this field, students will learn the necessary skills and strategies needed to effect change in the 21st Century.
Fundamentals of Law will introduce you to the American legal system, law, the role of the lawyer, and legal writing. We will learn about the structure and function of the legal system, and look at the process of resolving grievances through the courts. Additionally, we will review the key substantive areas in criminal and civil law, highlighting controversial issues in each. Finally, we will learn about the different roles that lawyers and judges can play, as well as their unique ethical obligations. Throughout the course, you will learn how to use legal terminology, conduct legal writing, and examine the many interesting facets of the American legal system.
This course approaches health care as much more than an individual- or local-level activity. Rather, it is embedded in a complex global system of health threats and responses. This arena, global public health, brings together scientific, economic, and political issues, and its outcomes affect billions of lives. We will discuss the historical development of the field, the state of public health around the world (including but not limited to the COVID-19 pandemic), and the prospects for addressing current and future health threats. Politics and advocacy movements surrounding public health will be a particular focus, as well as explorations of how COVID-19 is situated within broader debates in the field. Finally, this course is designed to be a college experience and will emphasize the critical analysis and other skills that are required for university-level work.
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Taylor Swift's Eras Tour is the highest-grossing tour of all time, with gross revenue exceeding $1 billion, and data shows that cities lucky enough to host one of her shows experienced an economic boost in her wake. This course explores the unique economic issues associated with Taylor Swift and the music industry in general, including the positive externalities associated with a Taylor Swift concert on the community, junk fees, the Ticketmaster monopoly, intellectual property rights (why re-record all those masters?), and the determinants of supply and demand in the music industry.
This course is designed to introduce students to the role that intelligence plays in international security. The class will begin with exploring the relationship between intelligence and security, examining the different ways nations seek to protect themselves. The course will move on to assess the nature of contemporary threats by focusing on what constitutes a threat and by discussing whether today's threats are more challenging than those of the past. Finally, the class will investigate the tough choices policy-makers are forced to make on a daily basis. Threats, responses, and intelligence are rarely crystal-clear, necessitating a set of very high-stakes decisions by national leaders. The follow-up assignments will allow students to explore these issues in greater depth. Students will finish the course with a deeper appreciation for the nuances of security studies, threat assessment, and intelligence analysis.
The course will seek answers to some of the most pressing questions facing today's world. For example, what are the main challenges international businesses face when navigating the increasing patterns of global interdependence and trade? How are goods, people, and ideas moving around the world in new ways? If globalization goes beyond our borders, it underscores the fact that problems such as financial crises, conflicts, and environmental concerns are now experienced on a global scale, affecting countries, businesses, and communities. The recent pandemic illustrates how important it is to understand the link between public health and economic activity.ÌýThis class will be interdisciplinary to reflect the challenges international businesses and entrepreneurs face in today's globalized world. This class will therefore examine the intersection of globalization, economic development, political science, the environment, and gender issues. Through the use of videos, newspaper articles, and other media tools, we will uncover what it means for businesses and individuals to be globally oriented in today's world.ÌýÌý
Diplomacy has been a significant form of interaction between sovereign entities since antiquity. In our time of tremendous social, political, and economic change, diplomacy persists as a prominent feature of international relations. It has been alternatively reviled as facilitating war and misperception, too antiquated to mitigate global issues, yet also praised as the only useful process for peace and effective communication. In this course, we will explore how scholars and practitioners have viewed diplomacy, offering arguments about its function, practice, limits, and response to change.
The course examines why and how individuals organize to influence government in the development of public policy. Students are introduced to interest group politics, effective advocacy, the tools of political communication, and policy development and analysis. The course will examine critical domestic policy areas, such as energy, environment, education, health, justice, and economic stability.
Students interested in medicine, the behavioral sciences, or life sciences will learn how the structure and function of the nervous system relates to human memory, learning, emotions, and sensations; and how psychologists understand normal and abnormal behaviors in terms of these processes. Over the last twenty years, knowledge of the brain has been greatly enhanced by the development of new neuroscience tools and techniques to examine neuroanatomy, neuropharmacology, and neurophysiology. Students will learn how to interpret the results of brain imaging and neuropsychological tests, which are used to probe the functioning of the human brain in both normal and abnormal states. Students will also learn about the value of animal models to understanding brain structure and function. They will perform simulations of brain and spinal cord sheep dissections; and study the structure of nerve cells (neurons) and nerve pathways that connect our extremities to the central nervous system via the peripheral nervous system. The neurons of these systems are able to conduct signals based both on electrical current and chemically-mediated neurotransmitter-receptor mechanisms. Students will read primary literature and design experiments to test their own hypotheses on how changes in neurotransmitter levels affect behavior and nervous system development. Students will be able to apply what they learn to what is known about psychological conditions such as addiction, schizophrenia, and depression.
High-quality, comprehensive sex education provides information on various topics related to sex and sexuality, explores values and beliefs surrounding these matters, and develops skills needed to navigate relationships and manage sexual health. This course offers an in-depth exploration of sexual health and education, emphasizing the biological, psychological, social, and cultural aspects of human sexuality. Students will investigate subjects such as human development, sexual anatomy and physiology, reproduction, contraception, sexually transmitted infections, and sexual behaviors. There will also be a focus on healthy relationships, consent, communication, sexual orientation, gender identity, and cultural influences on sexual norms.
Through interactive discussions, evidence-based resources, and critical analysis, students will acquire practical knowledge to make informed decisions about their sexual health and relationships. Additionally, the course addresses public health perspectives on sexuality, including policies, ethics, and strategies for enhancing sexual health outcomes. This class promotes an inclusive and respectful learning environment, encouraging open dialogue about the diverse experiences and challenges related to human sexuality.
This course begins by introducing students to the concept of sustainable development. Development professionals, engineers and city planners interested in sustainability must consider a series of factors when designing products, projects, and cities that will have lasting impacts on the planet, human populations, and local, national and international economies. As problem solvers, these actors can play a fundamental role in resolving development challenges – or in making them worse. In this class, we will examine what drives the need for environmentally and socially sustainable design, explore leading theories and concepts from the field, and work together to come up with potential solutions to real-world scenarios. Some questions we will discuss are: What does it mean to design products that are good for people and for the planet? How do we build products without negative social and environmental impacts? How can development staff and engineers apply their skills to address problems in developing countries? This course explores these questions through a combination of sustainable design exercises, film excerpts, peer-based activities, and instructor lectures.
Applications are open.
Please visit our Frequently Asked Questions page or email hsss@american.edu