Fire Hacks 2026
A free one-day in-person hackathon for high school students hosted by nonprofit CodeStarters at Zoho HQ in Pleasanton, CA, featuring a dedicated AI Track where students build AI apps, agents, and copilots with mentor support.
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USF Pre-College Program – AI in Action: Turning Data Into Solutions
An in-person certificate program at the University of San Francisco introducing high school students to AI and data science fundamentals through hands-on projects using real California environmental and health datasets, with visits to Bay Area research labs.
Duke Pre-College: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
Residential course on ML, data analysis, and algorithmic thinking.
GetSET (SWE Santa Clara Valley)
A four-year outreach program of the Santa Clara Valley Society of Women Engineers in which 25 incoming high school freshmen are selected annually to attend an intensive week-long summer program with over 50 hands-on engineering and science workshops led by volunteer women engineers, returning each summer through senior year.
Access Sacramento High School PSA Competition
An annual competition (12th+ year running) for high school students enrolled in animation or video production classes in the Sacramento County/West Sacramento area, who write and produce a 30-second public service announcement for a real community client such as the Sacramento Area Sewer District.
Cal Day at the Archaeological Research Facility (UC Berkeley)
An annual free open-house event where UC Berkeley's Archaeological Research Facility hosts lectures, panel discussions, lab tours, and hands-on activities (ceramic reconstruction, rock art painting, paleoethnobotany, career talks) for prospective students, families, and the community.
California MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement)
A year-round college and career prep program, headquartered in Oakland since its 1970 founding at Oakland Technical High School, that serves over 350 middle and high schools statewide with engineering-focused enrichment activities that feed into MESA's community college and university tracks and the National Engineering Design Competition.