Stony Brook University has a rich history of outstanding summer programs for high school students. The Pre-College Summer Program (PCS) is a week-long experience that offers students a valuable opportunity to engage in campus life, take courses that align with a potential college major, access campus resources, and participate in recreational activities and college-readiness workshops.
Launched in 2024, PCS immerses rising high school juniors and seniors in an area of study through hands-on exploration. They work directly with Stony Brook faculty and industry experts, meet like-minded peers who share their interests, and gain the tools needed to enter college with confidence and direction. Participants can choose to attend in a commuter or residential format.
This year, PCS welcomed 525 high schoolers from across the country. The program ran for four weeks, from June 28 to July 24. A total of 16 experiential courses were offered, covering a wide range of academic areas including science and biotechnology, engineering and robotics, health professions, mathematics, data and problem-solving, communications, humanities and social science, and environment and sustainability.
Many participants discover their desired major through the program, while others rule out areas of study that might not interest them as much as they expected. Either way, PCS helps high schoolers make informed decisions about their academic futures through valuable firsthand experience.
“When I attended PCS, I was able to familiarize myself with the Stony Brook University campus, and I ended up loving the environment here,” said past participant Alice Yang, who took the EngineerXperience course last summer and is now a senior at Great Neck North High School. “I was also able to speak to a lot of PhD and master’s students from different disciplines of engineering and understand the process of conducting research.”
Today, Yang volunteers in the coastal engineering lab of Stony Brook’s Ali Farhadzadeh, associate professor in the Department of Civil Engineering. She attributes the opportunity to take on this research to the connections she made at PCS.
“At the lab, I work under the guidance of PhD student Mahdieh Givehki,” Yang said. “We are conducting research on how damage propagation occurs on low-crested breakwater under wave forces. We use a large water tank with a wavemaker to create waves, and then we measure erosion caused by them. It’s really interesting, and I have learned a lot.”
Yang isn’t the only student who has returned to Stony Brook’s campus after participating in Pre-College Summer. This fall alone, approximately 20 former PCS participants will walk the halls of Stony Brook once again — this time as undergraduate freshmen. That number is expected to increase as the population of past participants exiting high school next year grows.
Program director Breanne Delligatti said the program had almost twice as many participants as last summer, and that it was exciting to see how much the program has continued to grow and evolve.
“For me, one of the biggest benefits of PCS is giving participants the opportunity to experience Stony Brook in a way they really can’t squeeze into a campus tour or by checking out the website,” Delligatti said. “They’re learning from our staff and faculty, exploring fields they may want to pursue, meeting people with similar interests and getting a real feel for what college life can be like. At the same time, Stony Brook gets to build those connections with participants much earlier in their academic journey.”
Delligatti added that this year’s program focused on strengthening the experience outside of the classroom.
“It felt more like a true college experience and community,” she said. “Seeing them arrive at the beginning of the week a little unsure and then leave with new friends, more confidence and excitement about what comes next is probably my favorite part of the program. I’m really proud of how far PCS has come and excited about how it will grow next year.”
Learn more about the Pre-College Summer Program at stonybrook.edu/precollege-summer.
— Robert Emproto
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