About Us
Summer Programming for K-12 Students
The College of Education offers numerous summer programs that are open to K-12 students from across the state of Florida. Students who participate in our summer programs are welcomed into a supportive and collaborative environment that allows them to develop their skills, discover new passions, and explore future career paths.
Learn more about some of our summer programming opportunities below.
Animation Gets Real Summer Camp
The Animation Gets Real Summer Camp is a week-long experience that allows students with autism and related disabilities to discover their strengths as future writers, videographers, storyboard artists and editors while in a positive learning environment. Students create a soundtrack to enhance their animated clip by adding musical elements, like voiceovers and sound effects, and later present their work to family and friends during a final showcase at the end of the camp session.
This program is open to students ages 13-22 and is hosted by Arts4All Florida, a nonprofit organization housed in the USF College of Education that is dedicated to bringing arts education to individuals with disabilities across Florida.
Everyone Can Code Camp
The USF Everyone Can Code summer camp is a coding camp designed for students in grades 4-6. This program helps campers identify code in their everyday lives and teaches the basic principles of coding using Apple’s Swift Playgrounds.
Campers will have the opportunity to LEARN coding basics, PRACTICE their skills through various puzzles and activities, APPLY what they have learned as they create with code, and CONNECT the experiences from camp to the real-world through problem solving and critical thinking. At the end of the week, campers will even design and prototype their own app using the skills they have learned.
USF Everyone Can Code is intended to not only introduce coding concepts, but to inspire young learners to think about how code might apply to their futures. This camp is intended for BEGINNERS with little to no experience in coding.
STEM Robotics Summer Camp
Join the USF College of Education for the 2023 STEM Robotics Summer Camp! Students in grades 5–8 are invited to participate in this fun and engaging camp where they will learn how to think critically and solve complex problems.
The STEM Robotics Summer Camp gives the next generation of STEM leaders experience with coding, programming and hands-on learning—from building a robot to creating a working model of a roller coaster. Campers learn from a variety of educators including USF St. Petersburg campus faculty, Pinellas County teachers and Microsoft experts.
Tampa Bay Area Writing Project Youth Summer Programs
Each summer, the Tampa Bay Area Writing Project hosts a series of summer camps to inspire K-12 students from across the Tampa Bay area to extend and enrich their writing practices. The Tampa Bay Area Writing Project’s Young Writers Camps provide an environment in which writers feel safe to explore their abilities and receive feedback on the writing process from their peers and Tampa Bay Area Writing Project Teaching Consultants.
The Tampa Bay Area Writing Project is a nonprofit professional development organization that works to create lifelong writers. Founded in 1998, the project is modeled after the National Writing Project, an organization comprised of nearly 200 local sites that utilize a professional development model of teachers teaching other teachers how to improve their writing instruction.
Tampa Theatre Film Camp
Each summer, the Tampa Theatre’s historic auditorium lights up with young filmmakers working together to produce their visions on-screen. Campers entering grades 3-12 work in small groups to learn the creative process of digital filmmaking, from brainstorming, storyboarding, and scriptwriting to filming, lighting and editing. All of the necessary equipment is provided, including cameras, lights, sound equipment, Mac computers and software. By the end of the session, each production team will have a 3-5 minute movie to showcase.
This camp is presented by the Tampa Theatre in collaboration with the Florida Center for Instructional Technology.
USF C.A.G.E. Virtual CyberCamp
USF’s C.A.G.E. Virtual CyberCamp offers campers in grades 3-5 an exciting, interactive experience problem solving through hands-on learning with various technologies. Campers work up the ranks as secret agent recruits for the Cybersecurity Agency for Global Engagement (C.A.G.E.) by solving puzzles, taking virtual tours, and gathering information to expose a mole within the organization!
This immersive, high-energy simulation will give campers knowledge in foundational computing concepts, including skills associated with cybersecurity, computing architecture, and coding. In addition to the program’s curriculum, campers will develop knowledge and skills that can be applied to their own interactions within the digital world.
USF Middle School CyberCamp
The USF Middle School CyberCamp, held in-person at the University of South Florida's Tampa campus, gives campers (grades 6-8) the opportunity to explore basic to intermediate cybersecurity concepts through interactive hands-on experiences. Activities are differentiated to match each camper's needs.
The curriculum provides campers the opportunity to learn through a series of fun and immersive challenges while interacting and competing with other campers. Lessons throughout the week focus on various cybersecurity concepts including cryptography, web exploration, forensics, and social engineering interwoven with basic internet safety and ethics.
USF High School CyberCamp
The USF CyberCamp encourages students from across the Tampa Bay area to pursue careers in the rapidly growing cybersecurity industry. The week-long program helps students learn what being an ethical hacker is all about.
Supported by local cybersecurity student groups and industry leaders, USF CyberCamp participants explore cybersecurity careers while networking with the Tampa-area cybersecurity community. The USF CyberCamp curriculum is supported by Florida CyberHub resources and lesson plans from the Florida Center for Instructional Technology.