Coding Programs & Competitions for High School Students

These programs teach and exercise real programming skill — bootcamps, project-based academies, and competitive-programming training for high school students.

Many are free and virtual, which makes coding one of the most accessible ways to build a serious technical profile from anywhere.

46 verified programs match this page; 25 of the featured listings are completely free; 13 can be done online.

Featured programs

Browse 30+ curated programs for high school students:

• PennApps Hackathon — University of Pennsylvania: Compete in the nation’s largest student-run hackathon for high schoolers. Build coding skills, innovate in tech, and boost your college applications.
• Kaggle Data Science Competitions — Kaggle/Google: Join exciting online data science competitions for high school students! Build Python coding skills, explore AI, and strengthen your college applicati
• NASA International Space Apps Challenge — NASA: Solve real-world space and climate challenges in NASA’s global hackathon. This free competition lets high schoolers build coding, data science, and te
• Google Computer Science Summer Institute (CSSI) — Google: Competitive free 3-week Google-hosted summer program in computer science for graduating high school seniors from underrepresented groups, including co
• American Computer Science League (ACSL) All-Star Contest — ACSL: Top scorers from ACSL compete at All-Stars. Programming and CS theory.
• Zero Robotics Programming Competition — MIT/NASA: Program robots that compete aboard the International Space Station. Finals run on actual SPHERES satellites in microgravity on ISS.
• FBLA Cyber Security and Computer Problem Solving — FBLA: Technology-focused FBLA events. Coding and cybersecurity.
• Zero Robotics Competition (MIT/NASA) — MIT / NASA: Program satellites that run on International Space Station. Finals broadcast from ISS.
• Processing Foundation Creative Coding — Processing Foundation: Free creative coding resources and community. Learn Processing/p5.js to create digital art and interactive media.
• USA Computing Olympiad (USACO) Finalist / Camp Invitee — USACO: Top ~24 invited to summer camp. 4 selected for IOI team. Most prestigious CS honor.
• Penn Experimental Physics Research Academy — University of Pennsylvania College of Arts & Sciences: Hands-on physics experiments and data analysis at Penn.
• Carnegie Mellon CS Scholars (CSS) — Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science: Full-scholarship pre-college program in CS for rising seniors from underrepresented groups.
• Intel oneAPI Developer Challenge — Intel Corporation: Global coding challenge using Intel's oneAPI toolkit; cash prizes
• Carnegie Mellon National High School Game Academy — Carnegie Mellon University: Game design and programming intensive at CMU. Learn game development from CMU faculty.
• Google Code Next Program — Google: Free multi-year program at Google labs teaching computer science and career readiness. Includes mentorship and internships.
• NASA App Development Challenge — NASA: Build apps for NASA missions. Winners present at NASA center.
• Lockheed Martin Code Quest — Lockheed Martin Corporation: Programming competition hosted by major defense contractor. Teams solve coding challenges. Exposure to aerospace industry and STEM careers.
• Apple WWDC Student Challenge Winner — Apple Inc.: Winners receive free WWDC ticket and trip to Apple Park
• Google Summer of Code (Pre-University Contributor) — Google: Paid stipend for contributing to open source projects. Work with mentors on real software. Demonstrates professional-level coding and collaboration sk
• RoboMaster Robotics Competition for Students — DJI RoboMaster: A DJI-organized international robotics competition where student teams design, build, and program combat-style robots.
• Project Euler Online Math Challenge — Project Euler: A free online collection of challenging math and programming problems for self-directed learners worldwide.
• SECME AI Contest (High School) — SECME: Explore AI and machine learning in this free high school competition. Build programming skills, analyze energy data, and boost your college applicatio
• CodeCombat Championship — CodeCombat: Compete in a free online coding competition for grades 6-12. Build game AI, enhance programming skills, and boost your college applications with hands
• GitHub Open Source Contributor — GitHub / Open Source Projects: Contribute to real-world open-source projects online! High school students gain programming skills, collaboration experience, and boost college applic
• MIT Battlecode — MIT: Develop coding, AI, and problem-solving skills in this free hybrid competition for high school students. Boost college applications with hands-on prog
• High School Game Design Competitions — Various Organizations: Participate in hybrid game design competitions for high school students! Build programming and creative skills, gain hands-on experience, and impress
• Code in Place - Stanford — Stanford University: Master coding with Stanford's free online programming course for high schoolers. Build skills, boost college applications, and gain hands-on STEM expe
• Codeforces Rounds — Codeforces: Participate in free online programming competitions to sharpen algorithmic problem-solving skills. Perfect for STEM-focused high school students and c
• Code.org Hour of Code Champions — Code.org: Host Hour of Code events as a student leader in computer science. Build coding skills, gain leadership experience, and enhance your college applicatio
• LeetCode Contests — LeetCode: Compete in free online programming contests for high school students! Build coding skills, prepare for interviews, and enhance your college applicatio

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