For High School Students

Timeline and Course Schedule

This page is for the high school program (grades 9-12)

Visit the STEM Academy Ignite page for the middle school program (grades 6-8).

STEM Academy is offered twice per year during our 12-week fall and spring sessions. STEM Academy is not currently offered during the summer.

Important Reminders

  • Review the course timeline.
  • There will be no classes held during the weeks of Thanksgiving break or spring break.
  • STEM Academy will have classes on all other scheduled days, including scheduled school holidays.

The timeline below is for the 2025–2026 calendar year. Next year’s timeline will be posted by July 2026. Dates are subject to change.

During the fall session, courses are offered one day per week from 5 to 6:30 p.m. ET from the third week of September until the end of the second week of December.

Fall 2025

Dates
August 7, 2025 STEM Academy Open House at APL
August 13–16, 2025 Returning Student Registration Period
August 15–25, 2025 New Student Application Period
September 10, 2025 Student/Parent Fall Session Virtual Orientation
September 15, 2025 First Day of STEM Academy Courses
November 24–27, 2025 Thanksgiving Break (No Courses)
December 8–11, 2025 STEM Expo (End of Courses)

During the spring session, courses are offered one day per week from 5 to 6:30 p.m. ET mid-February until the end of the second week of May. Because we may experience inclement weather during the spring session, an individual class may be canceled without being rescheduled. If a class is canceled, we will attempt to reschedule it or offer it online.

Spring 2026

Dates
January 7–10, 2026 Returning Student Registration Period
January 9–20, 2026 New Student Application Period
February 4, 2026 Student/Parent Spring Session Virtual Orientation
February 9, 2026 First Day of STEM Academy Courses
March 30 to April 2, 2026 Spring Break (No Courses)
May 4–7, 2026 STEM Expo (End of Courses)

Courses listed below are tentative for the fall 2025 session only, and are subject to volunteer instructor availability. The finalized course schedule will be updated in August for fall courses and in January for spring courses.

For more information about courses, including descriptions and prerequisites, please view the course catalog.

Fall 2025 Courses

Day Course Format
Monday Aero+Space with STK Virtual
Tuesday Wireless Communication In Person
Tuesday Critical Thinking 2: Systems and Society In Person
Tuesday Intro to Programming using Python Virtual
Wednesday Materials Science In Person
Wednesday Cybersecurity 1 In Person
Wednesday MATLAB 1 Virtual
Thursday Life in Code: Bioinformatics In Person
Thursday Public Speaking In Person
Thursday Programming in C 2 Virtual