History Programs for High School Students
EC Finder currently lists 62 history programs for high school students. Of these, 41 are free to participate in and 31 offer virtual participation. Examples include 9th Circuit Civics Contest, AFSA National High School Essay Contest, and Alameda County History Day.
- 62
- listed
- 41
- free
- 31
- virtual
- 60
- with a listed deadline
Frequently Asked Questions
- What are history programs for high school students?
- History Programs for High School Students are curated extracurricular listings for high school students interested in history. Each listing includes eligibility, cost, and deadline details where known, so you can compare options and find the right fit for your college application profile.
- When are the application deadlines?
- 60 of the 62 programs listed here have a specific deadline month noted. Deadlines vary by program, so check each listing for exact dates.
- Are any of these programs free?
- Yes — 41 of the 62 programs listed here are free to participate in.
- Can I participate virtually?
- Yes — 31 of the 62 programs listed here offer virtual or online participation.
- Are history programs good for a college application?
- Yes — history programs are a common way for high schoolers to show sustained interest and initiative in history on college applications.
Related Categories
62 activities found·Browse by category
9th Circuit Civics Contest
Essay or video contest on "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness," analyzing one core right historically and today.
AFSA National High School Essay Contest
An annual essay competition co-sponsored by the American Foreign Service Association and the U.S. Institute of Peace that asks high schoolers to write about diplomacy's role in resolving conflict, with a top prize including a Semester at Sea scholarship.
Alameda County History Day
Local county contest for National History Day; students from Alameda County submit projects in February and compete at the county event on March 7, 2026.
American Battlefield Trust Postcard Contest
An annual creative contest from the American Battlefield Trust in which students in grades 4-12 design an illustrated postcard reflecting on the importance of preserving Civil War and Revolutionary War history.
American Legion National Oratorical Contest
A Constitution-focused public-speaking scholarship contest where students deliver prepared and extemporaneous speeches on the U.S. Constitution, advancing from post to state to national, with a $25,000 national top prize.
Bill of Rights Institute Student Fellowship
A civic-education fellowship for high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors combining online discussions and readings on the Constitution with a capstone in-person week in Washington, DC or Philadelphia.
Bill of Rights Institute We the Students Essay Contest
An annual essay contest on U.S. government/founding-principles themes with a grand prize of $7,500 plus a scholarship to the Constitutional Academy summer program in Washington, D.C.
C-SPAN StudentCam
A national documentary competition where students make a short film on an annual civic/political theme incorporating C-SPAN footage, with $100,000 in total prizes across 150 winners.
California Archaeological Site Stewardship Program (CASSP)
A statewide volunteer program that trains members of the public to monitor and report on the condition of archaeological and historic sites. Training is a free online classroom day plus an optional in-the-field day; best suited to older, responsible teens alongside adult volunteers.
Cantor Arts Center Volunteer
Volunteers serve as ambassadors at Stanford's Cantor Arts Center, greeting visitors and providing information about exhibitions and the museum's collection and history.
Congressional Essay Contest (National Society of the Colonial Dames of America)
An annual essay contest run by state societies of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America since 1977, in which high school students write a 750-word essay on the functions of American government for a chance at one of roughly 50 scholarships to the Washington Workshops Congressional Seminar in Washington, D.C.
Coolidge Scholarship
Highly competitive, full-ride four-year undergraduate scholarship awarded to high school juniors based on essays and interviews grounded in American history and government.
DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) Scholarships
28+ national scholarships across majors including history, political science, education, and nursing, available to HS seniors planning college study.
DAR American History Essay Contest
National essay contest that asks students to write on a themed U.S. history prompt; entries go through local DAR chapters to state and national levels.
DAR Patriots of the American Revolution High School Essay Contest
A Daughters of the American Revolution essay contest focusing on people of the American Revolution, judged for historical accuracy and use of primary sources, advancing from chapter to state to national levels.
David McCullough Essay Prizes
Prestigious essay competition for high school students in Gilder Lehrman Affiliate Schools, honoring narrative or analytical essays on American history.
EduHam Online (Hamilton Education Program)
A free curriculum-based program created by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jeffrey Seller, and Gilder Lehrman where students study Founding-Era primary sources and create an original performance piece, with a national student showcase.
Fine Arts Museums Volunteers
Volunteers support the de Young and Legion of Honor museums with visitor services, events, and education programs that often highlight art and historical collections.
Fracchia Prize – San Francisco Historical Society
Annual research-essay contest on San Francisco history; open to any student attending a high school in San Francisco, with 1,200–1,600-word original essays.
Freedom Archives Internships
Nonprofit archive in San Francisco focused on social-justice and radical-history media. Internships help with archival research and digitization.
George S. & Stella M. Knight Essay Contest (Sons of the American Revolution)
An annual national essay contest from the Sons of the American Revolution open to students in grades 9-12, who write an 800-1,200 word essay on an event, person, or ideal tied to the American Revolution, Declaration of Independence, or U.S. Constitution, advancing from local chapters to state and national judging.
Gilder Lehrman History School
A free summer program offering live, interactive history courses taught by Gilder Lehrman master teachers, with a track for high school students in grades 9-12 alongside elementary and middle school levels.
History San Jose Programs
History San Jose runs interactive "History Detectives" programs and other public-history events using 19th-century San Jose artifacts.
History Unfolded: US Newspapers and the Holocaust
A nationwide citizen-history project from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum inviting students to research how local U.S. newspapers reported on Holocaust-era events and upload articles to a national database.
Hoover Institution History Skills Academy
Two-week intensive summer program at Stanford's Hoover Institution that trains high school students in historical research methods.
John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Essay Contest
An annual essay contest from the JFK Library Foundation asking U.S. high schoolers to research and analyze an act of political courage by an elected official who served in or after 1917, with a $10,000 top prize.
Joseph S. Rumbaugh Historical Oration Contest
National oratory competition by the Sons of the American Revolution where high schoolers write and deliver an original speech connecting the Revolutionary War era to the present.
Living History Youth Summer Institute
Paid six-week Philadelphia program at the Museum of the American Revolution where high schoolers train in costumed historical interpretation.
Los Altos History Museum – Teen Docent Program
Teen docents help lead tours, interpret exhibits, and assist with programs on local history, giving structured museum-based history outreach experience.
Museum of Tolerance MOTivating Teens Program
Six-week Los Angeles teen internship where students build public-speaking and dialogue-facilitation skills while learning Holocaust history and museum education.
National History Academy
A four-week residential summer program at Foxcroft School near Washington, DC where rising 10th-12th graders study American history, government, and law through site visits, discussions with scholars, and a culminating project.
National History Bee and Bowl
Nationwide history quiz competitions run by International Academic Competitions, with an individual buzzer-based Bee and a team-based Bowl, split into Varsity (grades 11-12) and Junior Varsity divisions that advance from regional tournaments to national championships.
National History Day – California (NHD-CA state contest)
NHD-CA is the state-level round of National History Day, where county champions present exhibits, documentaries, websites, performances, or papers on the annual NHD theme; it's one of the largest state history contests in the U.S.
National History Day – National Contest
National finals for NHD, held June 14–18, 2026 at the University of Maryland, College Park, where 3,000+ students present projects and compete for medals, scholarships, and special prizes.
NHD-CA Historical Paper Contest
Separate category where historical papers skip the county level and are submitted directly to a statewide paper contest; top papers then feed into the larger NHD-CA pathway.
NHD-CA Youth Leadership Council
The NHD-CA Youth Leadership Council gives experienced History Day students the chance to help shape contests, recruit participants, and lead workshops.
NJCL National Certamen
A quiz-bowl-style competition run by the National Junior Classical League testing knowledge of Latin/Greek language, Roman life, mythology, history, and literature, held at the NJCL National Convention.
Oakland Museum of California Volunteers
OMCA's volunteer program includes roles helping with school groups, cultural celebrations, and public programs that highlight California art, history, and natural sciences.
Pre-College Program in American History (William & Mary / Colonial Williamsburg NIAHD)
Three-week residential summer program where high schoolers earn William & Mary college credit while studying American history on-site at Colonial Williamsburg.
Rosie the Riveter Trust Youth Education Programs (Rosie's Service Corps)
Richmond, CA nonprofit program using WWII home-front history to give underserved middle/high schoolers trade skills, career mentoring, and service experience.
Sala and Aron Samueli Holocaust Art & Writing Contest
One of the largest Holocaust education contests in the country, where students respond creatively to Holocaust survivor or rescuer testimony.
San Francisco Historical Society Internship
SFHS internship roles for high school students to support the Museum of San Francisco, archives, and educational programming.
Selma Moidel Smith Student Writing Competition in California Legal History
Essay competition inviting students to research and write about a topic in California's legal and judicial history.
SF Bay Area Urban Green SCA
SCA's Bay Area Urban Green program provides year-round paid opportunities for high school students to work on urban environmental projects, some involving historic sites.
Smithsonian NMNH Summer High School Internship Program
A paid summer internship at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History where students ages 15-18 work 24 hours a week on museum projects, go behind the scenes, and explore both science and non-science museum careers.
St. John's College Great Books Summer Academy
A week-long, discussion-based pre-college program on St. John's College's Annapolis or Santa Fe campuses where high school juniors and seniors read and debate classic texts from the Western canon in small seminar-style classes.
Stanford Summer Humanities Institute
Three-week residential program where rising juniors and seniors study college-level humanities topics with Stanford faculty.
Student Historian Internship Program – New-York Historical
A paid academic-year internship for high school students entering grades 10-12 in the NYC metro area, who conduct original historical research using New-York Historical's archives, produce a digital project, and lead gallery tours under historian mentors.
Student Leadership Academy – The National WWII Museum
A hybrid summer program combining online coursework with a six-day, behind-the-scenes visit to The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, open to current high school freshmen through seniors and fully scholarship-funded for accepted participants, with optional college credit.
Student Writing Contest (The National WWII Museum)
An annual national essay contest from The National WWII Museum open to U.S. students in grades 7-12, who submit a 500-750 word essay on an assigned WWII-era topic using at least five sources, judged separately in Junior (7-9) and Senior (10-12) divisions.
TCR History Camp
An immersive online or in-person workshop in which secondary students choose their own historical research topic and, guided by instructors, transform it into a first draft of a historical research paper over a two-week session.
Telluride Association Summer Seminar (TASS)
Free, fully-funded summer humanities seminar for high school sophomores and juniors hosted by the Telluride Association. Two tracks: TASS-CBS (Critical Black Studies) and TASS-AOS (Anti-Oppressive Studies). About five weeks of intensive seminars with college instructors plus democratic community life. All tuition, books, room, board, and field trips covered.
The Concord Review
Quarterly academic journal that publishes the best high school history research papers in the world (4,000-6,000 word essays). Rolling submissions across four issue deadlines: August 1 (Winter), November 1 (Spring), February 1 (Summer), May 1 (Fall). Acceptance is highly selective.
The Supreme Court and My Hometown
In-person national civics program where high schoolers research a historic Supreme Court case with a local connection and complete a capstone project.
Thomas Aquinas College Great Books
Two-week residential summer "Great Books" program using Socratic seminars on classic texts in philosophy, theology, politics, and history of ideas.
University of the Pacific Pre-College
Pacific's two-week Summer High School Institute in Stockton includes humanities and social-science tracks.
Veterans History Project (Library of Congress)
A Library of Congress American Folklife Center program that collects and preserves firsthand veteran narratives, with students in grade 10+ conducting and submitting oral-history interviews with veterans.
VFW Voice of Democracy
A nationwide audio-essay scholarship competition sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars since 1947, in which high schoolers record a 3-5 minute essay on an annual patriotic theme for a share of over $1.6 million in scholarships.
We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution
A civics curriculum and competition from the Center for Civic Education in which student teams research constitutional issues and testify before a panel of judges acting as legislators, advancing from regional and state rounds to National Finals in Washington, DC.
World Historian Student Essay Competition (World History Association)
An international essay competition from the World History Association open to students in grades K-12, who submit an approximately 1,000-word original essay on an assigned world history theme for a chance at a $500 cash prize and a one-year WHA membership.
Young Civil War Historians Conference (Gettysburg College)
A weeklong residential conference held alongside Gettysburg College's Civil War Institute summer conference, in which rising high school juniors and seniors analyze original documents, photographs, and battlefield landscapes with leading Civil War historians and walk sites like Pickett's Charge.
Young Family Historians Essay Contest
Essay contest focused on family history and genealogy, asking students to research and write about their own family history using historical methods.
ECFinder provides links to outside extracurricular opportunities for informational purposes only. Students and families should research each program before applying. ECFinder does not operate or control the listed organizations and is not responsible for their actions or policies.