Be the first to know when registration opens for our 2025 Pre-College Programs by completing the brief interest form below:
Weeklong summer immersion programs at UNC Asheville offer students a deep dive into academic topics and hands-on experience.
UNC Asheville’s Pre-College Programs introduce high school students to college-level study, university life, and career options in a dynamic learning environment. Each one-week program offers deep immersion into an academic topic, challenging activities, and the opportunity to engage with industry professionals.
Student Testimonials
Summer 2024 Program Offerings:
Arts
Film Scoring & Sound Design
June 16 – June 21, 2024
Music is an important part of the story telling process in films. Learn how to compose cinematic music that evokes emotion using Hollywood film scoring techniques. Develop a score concept, work with virtual instruments and compose music for an animation film, and study the dynamics of a scene layer by layer to enhance the visual elements through sound design. Musicians, non-musicians and film students are welcome.
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Music Composition & Songwriting
June 23 – June 28, 2024
Develop creative and performing skills through composition, song writing, and improvisation exercises. Create original music individually and collaboratively with other students. Perform original and improvised music on your instrument/voice. The week will culminate in a performance of a new, original musical work.
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Creative Writing: The Great Smokies Young Writers Workshop – Sensory Writing & The Poet’s Toolbox
June 16 – June 21, 2024
Hone your literary skills through workshops with experienced local authors and poets. Generate new pieces, revise works-in-progress and critique works of others in a collaborative workshop setting.
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Creative Writing: The Great Smokies Young Writers Workshop – Developing Voice in Fiction & Nature Based Poetry
June 23 – June 28, 2024
Hone your literary skills through workshops with experienced local authors and poets. Generate new pieces, revise works-in-progress and critique works of others in a collaborative workshop setting.
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Ceramic Pottery
June 16 – June 21, 2024
Gain hands on experience in the ceramics studio and learn new techniques. Express creativity while learning to manipulate clay into sculpture and pottery. Create vessels by wheel-throwing and coil building. Learn to paint with underglazes. Form plates & shallow bowls by rolling out clay and carving. Take home your creations!
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Ceramic Pottery
June 23 – June 28, 2024
Gain hands on experience in the ceramics studio and learn new techniques. Express creativity while learning to manipulate clay into sculpture and pottery. Create vessels by wheel-throwing and coil building. Learn to paint with underglazes. Form plates & shallow bowls by rolling out clay and carving. Take home your creations!
Learn more & Register
Sciences
Climate, Robotics, Rocketry & Aerospace Engineering
June 16 – June 21, 2024
Interactively learn about robotics, rocketry, climate science, and aerospace and satellite engineering. Participate in numerous hands-on robotics and engineering tasks such as how to design a robotic rover, and building and launching a model rocket with student built sensors on board. The students will travel to a facility near the UNC Asheville campus to launch the model rockets they build in camp. Build an Arduino controlled mini weather station, launch them on tethered weather balloons, and conduct data analytics. Learn from STEM professionals about all the opportunities STEM fields have to offer.
Meteorology
June 23 – June 28, 2024
Explore the wonders of our atmosphere and experience the joys of a career in meteorology. Learn the fundamental principles of the atmospheric sciences through hands-on demonstrations and study the relationship between pressure, temperature, and elevation in the mountains. Build your own research-quality weather station. Visit the National Centers for Environmental Information, a permanent weather station, and a local media outlet to learn about careers in professional meteorology. Become a broadcast meteorologist for a day and present your forecast in a real television studio.
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Video Game Design
June 16 – June 21, 2024
Learn the fundamentals of game development using industry-standard Unreal Engine software. Play test classic and contemporary games in UNCA’s Esports Center and transform from consumers of video games into creators as you start to think about games from a developer’s perspective.
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Video Game Design
June 23 – June 28, 2024
Learn the fundamentals of game development using industry-standard Unreal Engine software. Play test classic and contemporary games in UNCA’s Esports Center and transform from consumers of video games into creators as you start to think about games from a developer’s perspective.
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Geology & Adventure
June 16 – June 21, 2024
Program filled, please register for the waitlist below.
Learn about the geology of the Southern Appalachians while hiking and rafting to scenic landmarks. Practice field-based learning while rock climbing and rappelling on the beautiful granite bodies of western North Carolina. Experience the geology of caving systems while spelunking. Enjoy time outdoors, build lifelong friendships, participate in adventure experiences, and see what it is like to be a geologist for a week!
Program Filled – Register Here for the Waitlist
River Ecology & Adventure
June 23 – June 28, 2024
Program filled, please register for the waitlist below.
Explore and discover our natural, aquatic world. Engaging field-based learning will pair with outdoor skills and trips. Learn about Southern Appalachian stream ecology while canoeing sections of pristine rivers, hiking to wilderness swimming holes and investigating local aquatic species, and be challenged to think critically about human impact on the environment while rafting exciting whitewater.
Program Filled – Register Here for the Waitlist