UC San Diego Youth Camps and Enrichment Programs

Find out about summer and year-round UC San Diego camps and enrichment programs for children and teens.

These camps and programs held at UC San Diego are open to children of staff, faculty, students, returning families, and the community.

Also see Summer Camp Programs located at UCSD, which are not necessarily sponsored by the university.

Summer Session

Grades 9-12

Students may choose from lower division courses (1-99) offered during two 5-week sessions to:

• Get an early start on a college career
• Fulfill 1 year of language in only 9 weeks
• Take courses to prepare for Fall Quarter
• Accelerate time to graduate

Academic Connections

Grades 9–12

• Online program 
• Pre-college summer program
• Hands-on college subject matter courses
• Low student-to-teacher ratio

Big Data Summer Camp "Data Science Academy"

Grades 10-12

The UCSD's Qualcomm Institute's Big Data Summer Camp provides aspiring young data scientists an immersive educational experience using cutting-edge approaches to Big Data.

• Open to high school students preparing to enter their sophomore, junior or senior year of high school
• No programming experience or knowledge is required
• Presentations from invited guest from academia and industry in order to expose the students to various data science application domains

COSMOS

Grades 8–12

Residential academic experience for top high school students in mathematics and science

Knock Around Camps

Ages 5 and up

Sponsored by UCSD Recreation, includes general camps plus leadership, sports, and beach camps

La Jolla Playhouse

• Conservatory, grades 10–12
• Young performers workshop, grades 2–12
• Young performers academy, grades 3–12

Mission Bay Youth Watersports Camp

Ages 6–17

Located at the Mission Bay Aquatic Center

• Kayaking
• Marine science
• Sailing
• Surfing
• Wakeboarding
• Waterskiing
• Windsurfing

San Diego Area Writing Project

Grades 3–12

• Young Writer's Camp
• YWC — College Writing
• YWC — The College Admission Essay

San Diego Supercomputer Center Summer Camps

Elementary, middle and high school

Over 20 summer camps to choose from, including:

• Hands-on Science 
• Animation Creation 
• Beginning and Advanced Programming
• Robotics 
• Skateboard Creation
• Video Production

New this year: StudentTECH Junior, a series of fun-filled camps for 3rd-5th grade students. Topics include engineering, robotics and programming.

Sally Ride Science

Grades 3–12

• Summer STEAM workshops for elementary, middle and high school students
• 1-week courses, 15 hours total, 3-hour classes
• Morning & afternoon sessions

Summer Learning at Birch Aquarium

Ages 4–15

• Week-long camps
• Day camps
• Animal encounters
• Arts and science

UCSD Jazz Camp

Ages 14 – Adult

• Jazz history and theory
• Improvisation workshops
• Master classes
• Performance ensembles
• Jazz composition and arranging

UCSD Recreation classes

See descriptions of quarterly classes and activities for children, including:

• Dance
• Gymnastics
• Martial arts
• Sports
• Swimming

UCSD Sports Camps

Ages 5–18

Specialized sports camps and clinics available through UCSD:

• Baseball
• Boys' basketball
• Girls' basketball
• Crew
• Boys' soccer
• Girls' soccer
• Softball
• Swimming & diving
• Tennis
• Girls' volleyball
• Water polo