About

Summer App Space

Starting in 2018, we are moving toward a virtual program, to scale to more students outside of the immediate Pasadena area.  Contact us to receive updates and follow us on facebook and twitter. Summer App Space is now a part of the Global SPHERE Network joining STEM programs for high-schoolers engaging in research early.

Summer App Space first ran June 26-August 4, 2017. Summer App Space was a paid apprenticeship for LA students and teachers to learn to program while getting paid to do fun space-related projects. Our team of lecturers and lab instructors is stellar and our curriculum was open sourced.  We selected our 12 student participants from more than 120 applications.

Check out the video from our Demo Day for a full introduction to the 2017 program:

Getting Paid to Learn Python

Summer App Space was a part time summer apprenticeship where high school students were paid to attend a six-week school learning to program in Python, 20 hours per week. Four weeks were lecture and lab based, and the last two weeks were project based incorporating a deliverable product and entrepreneurial style teams.

Projects and Demo Day

For the last two weeks area high school teachers, who have self-studied Python, join and students formed three teams working towards projects to present on our Demo Day August 4 to a panel of judges and industry experts. High school teachers participated with the goal to take the curriculum back into their classroom reaching even more students.

Innovation Speaker Series

Throughout the program every Thursday we hosted a speaker series and student driven Q&A open to the entire Caltech community. This innovation speaker series invites industry leaders in astronomy, astrophysics, aerospace, software engineering, investment, and entrepreneurship (startups) to share their journey and technical knowledge. This series allowed Summer App Space students and the Caltech community to network with a wide range of successful professionals.