What summer programs are ideal for a high school junior interested in engineering?

The Summer Science Program (http://www.ssp.org) When I was in high school, I attended The Summer Science Program in Ojai California.  Many of the students there were some of the most brilliant and driven people that I have met in my life.  This program is astronomy based, but it prepared me for mechanical engineering extremely well.  To this day, I still keep in touch with some of the people I met there. Here's a little information about the program from the official website: The Summer Science Program (SSP) is a residential enrichment program in which gifted high school students complete a challenging, hands-onresearch project in celestial mechanics. By day, students learn college-level astronomy, physics, calculus, and programming. By night, working in teams of three, they take a series of telescopic observations of a near-earth asteroid, and write software to convert those observations into a prediction of the asteroid's orbit around the sun. Stimulating guest speakers and field trips round out the curriculum. This venerable program has drawn young scientists from around the world for over 50 years, accelerating their intellectual and personal development, and inspiring them to seek equally challenging educational and career paths. Many SSP alumnihave gone on to distinguish themselves at selective universities, then to positions of leadership in their chosen careers. Established in 1959 at Thacher School in Ojai, California, SSP became an independent non-profit in 2000. It now takes place at two campuses: New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro, and Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. For more information about the program, go to http://www.ssp.org.  I remember the financial aid being fantastic.  If you decide to apply, keep in mind the admissions process is selective.  In 2010, 13.7% of students who applied were admitted to the program (http://ssp.org/admissions/faq.php)

There are a few well regarded competitions (Intel ISEF, Siemens) for high schoolers in which students present the results of their research projects.  Quite a few universities offer summer research programs for high schoolers, and these programs tend to be feeders for entries into the various science fairs that exist nationwide.  A summer engineering research project (professor-guided) would provide the student with general exposure to engineering/research.  Additionally, a successful showing at the national/regional science & technology fairs would give the student a big resume boost when applying to top engineering programs.  Of course, this depends on the students' interests and the actual research project.

You could look for schools who offer engineering, research and science classes around. I tried Google and found these list of schools who offer engineering classes, some of them has residential options too! http://engineering-innovation.jhu.edu/program-description/ http://engineering.mit.edu/education/special_programs/mites.php http://swe.engin.umich.edu/SEEcamp The rest of the list is in this link: http://collegeapps.about.com/od/extracurricular/tp/summer-programs-engineering.htm http://www.campkimama.org/en

Alternative approach: come to my school, http://hackreactor.com, skip the four years of college, and start making amazing stuff right away.