K-12 Student Programs
Signature and Affiliate K-12 Programs
CU Pre-Health Scholars (CUPS) Program High School Track
The CU Pre-Health Scholars Program (CUPS) High School Track serves grades 9th through 12th and exposes scholars to high-impact events, research, STEAM, and Healthcare careers. At the same time, preparing our scholars to be competitive applicants for post-secondary education and matriculation into professional health careers or graduate school programs.
Contact: Jessica Luna Garcia | jessica.lunagarcia@cuanschutz.edu | CUPS
CU Pre-Health Scholars (CUPS) Program Middle School Track
The CU Pre-Health Scholars Program (CUPS) Middle School Track serves grades 6th through 8th and exposes scholars to high-impact events, research, STEAM, and Healthcare careers. At the same time, preparing our scholars to be competitive applicants for post-secondary education and matriculation into professional health careers or graduate school programs.
Contact: Sothary Chea | sothary.chea@cuanschutz.edu | CUPS
Denver STaRS
This program provides positive exposure to the Anschutz Medical Campus for high school students to explore internship opportunities in STEM, healthcare, and research professions.
Contact: CUPs | cups@cuanschutz.edu | Denver Stars Interest Form
Combined BA/BS-MD Program
The BA/BS-DDS degree program at the University of Colorado Denver and CU School of Dental Medicine at Anschutz Medical Campus aims to promote the diversity of dental professionals practicing dentistry in Colorado and to better serve the health care needs of the State of Colorado by assembling and educating students from broadly diverse backgrounds. Applicants must be Colorado residents who are interested in serving the health care needs of Colorado as dentists.
Contact: Trishia Vasquez | Trishia.Vasquez@ucdenver.edu | BA/BS-DDS
The Medical Career (MC2) Collaborative Program at Children's Hospital
The Medical Career Collaborative (MC²) program propels high school students toward careers in healthcare through hands-on experiences and professional development opportunities. MC² focuses on recruiting students from groups that are under-represented in the healthcare workforce. This group of high-achieving young people typically consists of students of color and students from low-income backgrounds; the students come from schools all around the Denver Metro area.
Contact: Haley Couch | Haley.Couch@childrenscolorado.org | Medical Career Collaborative
Colorado Area Health Education Center
The Colorado AHEC Program Office works with the regional offices to build state-wide network capacity and strengthen academic-community linkages in four core mission areas. The four core mission areas of the AHEC are Health Careers and Workforce Diversity, Health Professions Student Education, Health Professions Continuing Education, and Public Health and Community Education.
Contact: Josina Romero O’Connell, MD | josina.oconnell@cuanschutz.edu | CO AHEC
Colorado Black Health Collaborative (CBHC)
The Colorado Black Health Collaborative is a community-based organization that is committed to improving health and wellness in Colorado's Black, African, and African American communities through collaborations, partnerships, and teaming arrangements with community-based organizations, non-profits, public organizations, private entities, and government agencies.
Contact: Thelma Craig | Info@coloradoblackhelath.org | CBHC Homepage
Colorado UpLift
Colorado UpLift employs full-time staff who are committed to the students they serve. As teachers/mentors and life coaches, they develop long-term relationships as early as elementary school. This bond continues through middle and high school, providing the relational support missing from students’ lives. Colorado UpLift uses a relational approach that produces superior results.
CU Science Discovery works in partnership with the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. These camps offer immersive, hands-on learning experiences, allowing participants a first-hand glimpse into the world of biomedical research.
Contact: Meredith Tennis, PhD | Meredith.Tennis@cuanschutz.edu | CU Science Discovery
Culture of Wellness in Preschools (COWP)
COWP is a comprehensive and collaborative early childhood obesity prevention program, which aims to promote a “culture of wellness” in preschool settings by increasing fruit and vegetable consumption and physical activity levels. This is accomplished by bringing the following to preschool sites throughout Colorado: 1) classroom-based nutrition education; 2) a preschool physical activity professional development program; 3) parent wellness workshop series; 4) a staff workplace wellness program; and 5) a strategic planning process to make center environment and policy changes that focus on increasing healthy eating and physical activity levels. All program components are evidence-based or promising practices.
Contact: RMPRCSchoolWellness@cuanschutz.edu | Culture of Wellness in Preschools
Denver Metro Regional Science and Engineering Fair
The Annual Denver Metro Regional Science and Engineering Fair (DMRSEF) is for middle and high school students. This exciting and challenging event will draw from the eight-county Denver metropolitan area; the best minds from grades 6 through 12.
Contact: DenverScienceFair@UCDenver.edu | Science Fair
Medical Day Treatment Program
The Medical Day Treatment Program provides medical, educational, and psychosocial interventions to children and adolescents with chronic medical illnesses. This program is designed for children and adolescents ages 6 to eighteen who have difficulty functioning in a regular school environment either because of their illness or because of psychological reactions to their medical conditions. Twelve to 15 patients can be served at any given time. This is an accredited school program. A certified teacher from the Denver Public School system is employed full-time by the program. The program is also staffed with nurses, a psychologist, and other medical personnel.
Summer Child Health Research Internship
The Department of Pediatrics offers summer research opportunities for rising high school seniors, college students, and first-year medical students. Students will work in the lab with members of the Department of Pediatrics faculty at Children's Hospital Colorado/University of Colorado on the Anschutz Medical Campus. The summer program will introduce students to research opportunities related to child health. The summer internships will include opportunities for students to participate in a lecture research series as well as present their research at the completion of the summer internship.
Students and their faculty mentors are encouraged to produce abstracts for submission to local, regional, and national meetings. If the students’ research is accepted for presentation at a scientific meeting, the Child Health Research Internship will provide funding for travel and registration for the student to travel to one scientific meeting.
Think Like a Scientist (TLaS)
TLaS volunteers help elementary school children within the surrounding community explore the wonders of science under the guidance of a faculty sponsor. Together, they aim to inspire elementary-aged young scientists about the basics of the scientific method through a mix of mini, interactive presentations and hands-on, fun experiments.
Contact: Aimee Pugh Bernard, PhD | aimee.bernard@cuanschutz.edu | Think Like a Scientist
BOLT Camp
BOLT is a camp for high school students that teaches about biomedical engineering and some of the exciting career options available for STEM-focused students. This in-person camp at the Department of Bioengineering at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus will be filled with interesting topics and activities designed to introduce high school students to biomedical engineering and leadership topics. The camp will be a four-day event offered entirely in person.
Contact: Tarik Walker, MD | tarik.walker@cuanschutz.edu | Bolt
Center for Pre-Collegiate and Academic Outreach Programs
The Center for Pre-Collegiate and Academic Outreach Programs at the University of Colorado Denver administers pre-college and pipeline programs. These programs are designed to educate, motivate, and prepare students to be successful in secondary and post-secondary education with the ultimate goal of obtaining a higher education degree.
The CU Denver Scholars Program
The CU Denver Scholars Program is an early college enrollment program for college-bound, high-achieving first-generation students who enroll in college courses on campus during their senior year of high school. Students begin their college studies by taking one course at CU Denver during the fall and spring semesters of their senior year in high school. The credit earned in the course can be applied toward a bachelor's degree at the institution the student will attend. While enrolled in the program, students participate in Saturday Academies. Workshops at these academies are designed to prepare students for college study and introduce them and their parents to the rigors of a college environment.
Contact: scholars@ucdenver.edu | CU Denver Scholars Program
The LYNX National Arts and Media Camps
The LYNX National Arts and Media Camps are summer immersion programs for high school students interested in contemporary music, film, or visual arts. The camps are produced by the CU Denver College of Arts & Media and they have developed a reputation as some of the best high school summer arts camps in America. At the camps, students learn from CU Denver faculty, get a taste of college life, get mentored by current CU Denver students, and bond with other arts high school students from throughout the country. The camps are designed to be previews of our college programs. The camps take place on the CU Denver campus in downtown Denver, home to a thriving arts and music scene. We strive to inspire students, expose students to the latest arts and media technologies, and help students to learn about college and career options in the arts!
Contact: Dave Walter | David.Walter@ucdenver.edu | LYNX National Arts and Media Camps
The Pre-Collegiate Development Program (PCDP)
The Program is committed to providing its students every opportunity to develop their academic skills to succeed in high school and gain entrance into an institution of higher education.
Contact: pcdp@ucdenver.edu | Pre-College Programs Development
The Pre-Collegiate Middle School Academic Program
The Pre-Collegiate Middle School Academic Program (PCMSAP) at the University of Colorado Denver Downtown Campus is an academic enhancement program. The Program is designed to adequately prepare first-generation college-bound students in grades 7th and 8th to enroll in a college preparatory curriculum and successfully complete their secondary school career. Therefore, students selected to participate in the Program will be expected to remain active participants throughout their middle school years.
Contact: pcmsap@ucdenver.edu | Middle School Programs
Adaptation and Variation: Colorado Animals and Plants Program
Guided programs at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History on the CU-Boulder campus are designed as interactive and hands-on learning experiences where students use objects, inquiry, and critical thinking skills to discover, wonder and reflect.
Contact: Jim Hakala | museumed@colorado.edu
Art Meets Science: 3D Modeling of Cell Structures
The importance of integrating visual and spatial skills to engage learners has been well documented. Children are visual and creative beings, and it follows that teaching science in a visual-spatial environment will aid in their ability to learn and help them become excited about science. In this project, we offer a unique outreach opportunity to blend art with science by partnering with a St. Vrain Valley Public School that is a Focus School for the Arts (Sunset Middle School). We will provide an opportunity to teach 3D modeling software developed in our lab (Boulder Laboratory for 3D Electron Microscopy of Cells) and will supply computer-based, cell volume data sets for the students to model, study, and display in an artistic context.
Contact: Eileen O'Toole | eileen@bio.colorado.edu
CIRES: Geomagnetism in the MESA Classroom: An Essential Science for Modern Society
Geomagnetism in the MESA Classroom is a four-part after-school module sponsored by NASA that allows students to explore geomagnetism. Students will use compasses, perform navigation exercises, complete a caching activity, and attend a field trip to NOAA's David Skaggs Research Center in Boulder.
Join the Colorado Math Circle for exciting math talks and problem-solving sessions hosted by the University of Colorado at Boulder. Speakers will include math professors and mathematicians from around the state. Topics are expected to include number theory, combinatorics, probability, and geometry.
Contact: Silva Chang | circle@coloradomath.org | Colorado Math Circle
Community-University Partnership to Improve High School Math Performance and Engagements Among at Risk Students
The goal of this project is to implement an innovative positive psychology intervention aimed at improving high school math performance, particularly among high school girls and Hispanics/ Latinos. This year we successfully piloted this intervention in four diverse math classes at Niwot High School. This outreach award will allow us to expand this exciting project and to more specifically target at-risk Hispanic/ Latino and female students.
Contact: Kelsee Henningsen | Kelsee.Henningsen@colorado.edu
Girls At the Museum Exploring Science (GAMES)
Girls At the Museum Exploring Science (GAMES) is a unique program designed to encourage interest and excitement about science in 4th and 5th-grade girls. The program consists of six weekly after-school visits to the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History (CU Museum). While at the Museum, the girls explore the sciences of archaeology, botany, entomology, paleontology, and zoology through hands-on activities using real museum specimens and direct interaction with scientists and museum professionals. At the end of the six weeks, the families of participants are invited to the museum for a pizza dinner and exploration.
Contact: Cathy Regan | Cathy.Regan@colorado.edu | GAMES
The Office of Precollege Outreach and Engagement
The Office of Precollege Outreach and Engagement, which is part of the Office for Diversity, Equity, and Community Engagement, partners with communities across Colorado and beyond to provide first-generation and low-income students and their families with comprehensive college prep and social development programs.
The Pre-Collegiate High School Program
The Pre-Collegiate High School Program is the continuation of the Pre-Collegiate Middle School Academic Program and is designed to continue the preparation of its first-generation participants to successfully complete their secondary school career and transition to the college of their choice.
Contact: pcdp@colorado.edu | High School Program
The Pre-Collegiate Middle School Program
The Pre-Collegiate Middle School Academic Program (PCMSAP) is designed to adequately prepare first-generation college-bound students in grades 7th and 8th to enroll in a college preparatory curriculum and successfully complete their secondary school career.
Contact: pcdp@colorado.edu | Middle School Program
Science Discovery
CU Science Discovery is a science education outreach program of the University of Colorado Boulder’s Division of Continuing Education. Founded in 1983 to heighten young students’ interest in science, CU Science Discovery coordinates an array of programs that connect K-12 students and teachers to current CU science. Each program utilizes CU scientific expertise, equipment, resources, and graduate or undergraduate students in order to provide K-12 students and teachers with unique, experiential learning STEM experiences. All programs are designed to be highly interactive and relevant, in order to engage students in the scientific process while connecting them to the science and technology present in their everyday lives.
Upward Bound provides fundamental support to participants in their preparation for college entrance. The program provides opportunities for participants to succeed in pre-college performance and ultimately in higher education pursuits. Upward Bound serves high school students from low-income families, high school students from families in which neither parent holds a bachelor's degree, and low-income, first-generation military veterans who are preparing to enter postsecondary education. The goal of Upward Bound is to increase the rates at which participants enroll in and graduate from institutions of postsecondary education.
Colorado Project Lead the Way (PLTW)
Project Lead The Way (PLTW) is a national program forming partnersto encourage students to expand stitutions, and the private sector in order to encourage students to expand upon their knowledge in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). UCCS provides quality PLTW summer training for elementary, middle school, and high school teachers, ongoing training, and networking opportunities throughout the school year. The campus also provides college engineering graduate credit opportunities for those middle and high school teachers that participate in engineering summer training, and undergraduate engineering and health science credit opportunities for high school students in PLTW-certified schools.
Contact: outreach@uccs.edu | Colorado Project Lead the Way
Pre-Collegiate Development Program
The Pre-Collegiate Development Program (PCDP) at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) is a system-wide, institutionally funded academic program for high school students interested in post-secondary opportunities. It is designed to motivate and prepare first generation and/or military dependent students in pursuit of their higher education goals. PCDP is structured to ensure that students are academically prepared to enroll in, and be successful at UCCS, the University of Colorado system or any other postsecondary institution of the students' choice.
Contact: Shawn Sanchez | ssanch22@uccs.edu | Pre-Collegiate Development Program
Pre-Collegiate Middle School Program
The Pre-Collegiate middle school program recruits 7th and 8th-grade students to participate in workshops during the academic year to promote leadership, social-emotional, interpersonal, and academic skills development. Our mission is to prepare students for high school and broaden post-secondary options so that students have greater access to college and other career fields.
Contact: James "Alan" Flinn | jflinn3@uccs.edu | Middle School Program
Pre-Collegiate Support and Success Center
The Pre-Collegiate Support and Success Center (PCSSC) at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) is an institutionally funded academic enrichment program for targeted elementary, middle, and high school students. It is designed to motivate and prepare first-generation and military-dependent students in pursuit of their higher education goals. The PCSSC is structured to ensure that students are academically prepared to enroll and be successful in postsecondary education.
Contact: Nancy Hernandez, Ph.D.| nhernand@uccs.edu | Pre-Collegiate Support and Success Center
Pueblo Pre-Collegiate Development Program: Middle School and High School
Recruitment for Pre-Collegiate's middle and high school programs typically takes place in the fall of a student’s 7th grade year, and freshman year (9th grade). Pre-Collegiate program details and application requirements are shared at information sessions each fall.
Contact: Dr. Lisa Fetman | Lfetman@uccs.edu | Pueblo Program
STEM Education Outreach
It is an academic program for regional K-12 students designed to motivate and expose students to a variety of STEM activities, careers, and programs.
Contact: Vicki Taylor | vtaylor5@uccs.edu | STEM Education Outreach
Roaring Fork Pre-Collegiate Program
Roaring Fork pre-collegiate is a college prep program for students in Basalt, Carbondale, and Glenwood Springs. We prepare high school students to succeed.
Summit Pre-Collegiate Program
The mission of Summit Pre-Collegiate is to assist and encourage first-generation students in their quest to graduate high school and continue with post-secondary education. We provide academic and community resources to help students formulate and achieve their goals in middle school, high school, and beyond. Our goal is to create a college-going culture for our first-generation students, and all students, in Summit School District by helping to remove barriers that commonly deter students and families from attaining this achievement. Our services include academic tutoring, community mentoring, peer mentoring, Padres Aprendiendo Juntos / Parents Learning Together, summer programs at Colorado Mountain College and the University of Colorado Boulder, college and career counseling, extension classes at SHS, study skills, career exploration, SAT test prep, and year long college and scholarship application assistance for seniors.
Contact: Molly Griffith | mgriffith@summit.k12.co.us | Summit Pre-Collegiate Program