The application period for the Summer 2024 Athena Fellowship has closed. Sign up for updates about future application cycles here.
Applications for the 2024 Summer Fellowship are closed. Sign up for updates!
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
Summer 2024 Fellowship
Summer 2024 Fellowship
The Athena Fellowship is a summer fellowship for ambitious young female students entering 9th through 12th grade in Fall 2024. The fellowship selects for self-motivated students who are passionate about making an impact in the world. Prior experience in STEM is not required, but students must demonstrate academic excellence, leadership capabilities, and self-discipline. The program ultimately seeks to identify and select students who demonstrate strong future potential in STEM.
The Summer 2024 Fellowship will take place from July 8th - August 2nd. The fellowship is a part-time online program, so students may join from anywhere around the world and participate alongside other summer programs and activities.
The Athena Fellowship is a summer fellowship for ambitious young female students entering 9th through 12th grade in Fall 2024. The fellowship selects for self-motivated students who are passionate about making an impact in the world. Prior experience in STEM is not required, but students must demonstrate academic excellence, leadership capabilities, and self-discipline. The program ultimately seeks to identify and select students who demonstrate strong future potential in STEM.
The Summer 2024 Fellowship will take place from July 8th - August 2nd. The fellowship is a part-time online program, so students may join from anywhere around the world and participate alongside other summer programs and activities.
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
Summer 2024 Fellowship
The Athena Fellowship is a summer fellowship for ambitious young female students entering 9th through 12th grade in Fall 2024. The fellowship selects for self-motivated students who are passionate about making an impact in the world. Prior experience in STEM is not required, but students must demonstrate academic excellence, leadership capabilities, and self-discipline. The program ultimately seeks to identify and select students who demonstrate strong future potential in STEM.
The Summer 2024 Fellowship will take place from July 8th - August 2nd. The fellowship is a part-time online program, so students may join from anywhere around the world and participate alongside other summer programs and activities.
Fields of Study
Through the Athena Fellowship, students will dive deeper into the following fields of study, and have the opportunity to learn from mentors and instructors with a diverse range of backgrounds in:
Biology, Medicine & Healthcare
Computer Science & Engineering
Mathematics
Chemistry & Physics
Environmental Science
Additionally, students will learn how STEM can be applied to other interdisciplinary fields, such as business & entrepreneurship, and public policy.
Fields of Study
Through the Athena Fellowship, students will dive deeper into the following fields of study, and have the opportunity to learn from mentors and instructors with a diverse range of backgrounds in:
Biology, Medicine & Healthcare
Computer Science & Engineering
Mathematics
Chemistry & Physics
Environmental Science
Additionally, students will learn how STEM can be applied to other interdisciplinary fields, such as business & entrepreneurship, and public policy.
Program Overview
During the Athena Fellowship, students will have access to an extensive range of resources and participate in live programming and events. The core of the program consists of the following series: STEM Horizons, Fireside Chats, Skill Development Workshops, and Career Panels. Each series is curated to introduce students to various academic disciplines, teach essential life skills, and provide tools for success in high school and beyond.
STEM Horizons
Through the STEM Horizons series, students will dive into a range of STEM subjects, from medicine to artificial intelligence, computational biology to aerospace engineering, and more. Students will learn from subject matter experts who will introduce potential career paths, research opportunities, and various tips and resources on how students can get started in a field.
Fireside Chats
The Fireside Chat series is where speakers share their personal journeys, life advice, and insights they wish they had known when they were at the age of students. All speakers are young women who can share practical and applicable advice. Students will see how speakers got to where they are today, and learn how they can embark on their own journeys.
Skill Development
Students will learn essential life skills, and discover techniques on how to effectively manage their time, enhance productivity, build habits, study efficiently, and more. These skills are invaluable for navigating high school, college, and beyond, and will remain with students throughout their lifetime.
Career Panel
During Career Panels, multiple guests are invited to share their career journeys, explaining practically what it looks like to pursue various careers. Students will learn the day-to-day responsibilities of different fields, and how to “break” into each, with practical advice on subjects like applying to and attending medical school, studying computer science and working in tech, and more.
Other Programming
In addition to the curriculum above, students will have access to a variety of other resources throughout the summer. Each week, students will have the opportunity to receive 1:1 mentorship through 'Office Hours,' meet other fellows through 'Coffee Chats,' and complete various deliverables designed to help them develop and practice core skills they learned throughout the week. There will also be other optional events and programming students may participate in. More detailed information is included in the program handbook sent to students once they are accepted into the program.
Program Overview
During the Athena Fellowship, students will have access to an extensive range of resources and participate in live programming and events. The core of the program consists of the following series: STEM Horizons, Fireside Chats, Skill Development Workshops, and Career Panels. Each series is curated to introduce students to various academic disciplines, teach essential life skills, and provide tools for success in high school and beyond.
STEM Horizons
Through the STEM Horizons series, students will dive into a range of STEM subjects, from medicine to artificial intelligence, computational biology to aerospace engineering, and more. Students will learn from subject matter experts who will introduce potential career paths, research opportunities, and various tips and resources on how students can get started in a field.
Fireside Chats
The Fireside Chat series is where speakers share their personal journeys, life advice, and insights they wish they had known when they were at the age of students. All speakers are young women who can share practical and applicable advice. Students will see how speakers got to where they are today, and learn how they can embark on their own journeys.
Skill Development
Students will learn essential life skills, and discover techniques on how to effectively manage their time, enhance productivity, build habits, study efficiently, and more. These skills are invaluable for navigating high school, college, and beyond, and will remain with students throughout their lifetime.
Career Panel
During Career Panels, multiple guests are invited to share their career journeys, explaining practically what it looks like to pursue various careers. Students will learn the day-to-day responsibilities of different fields, and how to “break” into each, with practical advice on subjects like applying to and attending medical school, studying computer science and working in tech, and more.
Other Programming
In addition to the curriculum above, students will have access to a variety of other resources throughout the summer. Each week, students will have the opportunity to receive 1:1 mentorship through 'Office Hours,' meet other fellows through 'Coffee Chats,' and complete various deliverables designed to help them develop and practice core skills they learned throughout the week. There will also be other optional events and programming students may participate in. More detailed information is included in the program handbook sent to students once they are accepted into the program.
Program Mentors, Instructors, and Speakers
Mentors for the Athena Fellowship are accomplished young women at the forefront of STEM. Program mentors are recent college graduates and current or incoming undergraduates, so they are uniquely equipped to provide relevant and actionable advice for younger students. The goal of the fellowship is to show students where they can be in the next five to ten years, and equip with them the resources to excel in their own journey.
Below are examples of mentors students will have the opportunity to learn from over the summer. Throughout the fellowship, students will have the opportunity to meet many more mentors of equal caliber. For a more comprehensive list of program mentors, please visit the Mentors page.
Program Mentors, Instructors, and Speakers
Mentors for the Athena Fellowship are accomplished young women at the forefront of STEM. Program mentors are recent college graduates and current or incoming undergraduates, so they are uniquely equipped to provide relevant and actionable advice for younger students. The goal of the fellowship is to show students where they can be in the next five to ten years, and equip with them the resources to excel in their own journey.
Below are examples of mentors students will have the opportunity to learn from over the summer. Throughout the fellowship, students will have the opportunity to meet many more mentors of equal caliber. For a more comprehensive list of program mentors, please visit the Mentors page.
Jiwoo Lee
Harvard Medical School
Jiwoo is an MD candidate in the Harvard-MIT HST Program at Harvard Medical School. Prior, she studied computational biology and biomedical informatics at Stanford. In high school, Jiwoo was awarded Best in Category at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) for her CRISPR-Cas9 research, and she has continued to pursue her passion for science and research ever since.
Katie Mishra
Stanford University
Katie studied Computer Science at Stanford while working on NLP research at Oculus. Katie founded Kangaroo, a celebrity mobile gaming company, with Kiernan Shipka; she raised $3.3M from top venture capital firms to create an interactive AI storytelling engine and app. She is currently the first Product Manager at Astrocade, an AI gaming platform co-founded by Fei-Fei Li.
Shivani Aggarwal
Harvard University
Shivi recently graduated with a Master’s degree in Philosophy in Health, Medicine, and Society from the University of Cambridge. Prior, Shivi studied integrative biology at Harvard, where she graduated magna cum laude with a 4.00 GPA, and conducted research at the Harvard Business School. Shivi now works as an associate at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
Anne Lee
Stanford University
Anne studied Computer Science at Stanford and completed her degree in 8 academic quarters (~2.5 years). During high school, Anne worked at Microsoft as a software engineering intern. She also received the Cameron Impact Scholarship, a merit-based, full-tuition scholarship to attend any university, and was admitted to Harvard by likely letter (top 100 academic applicants).
Jenny Xu
MIT
Jenny Xu is a long-distance runner, artist, programmer, gamer, fitness instructor, Forbes 30 Under 30: Games recipient, and CEO of Talofa Games. She started making games and running at age 12, and in her 12 years in the gaming industry, she’s shipped 10 titles on the mobile app stores with over 9.2 million downloads. Jenny studied at MIT and graduated with a degree in computer science.
Jessika Baral
Harvard Medical School
Jessika is an MD/PhD candidate studying Biomedical Informatics at Harvard Medical School. Prior, Jessika studied Genomics and Computational Biology at Washington University in St. Louis through the Florence Moog Fellowship, a full-tuition scholarship. In high school, Jessika conducted research at the Stanford School of Medicine and was a Science Talent Search (STS) Finalist.
Lorena is an undergraduate studying Computer Science at Harvard. Her high school did not offer any computer science courses, but she did not let this stop her. Lorena found other opportunities at Google and her community college, and was named a MITES Semester Scholar (MIT program for students in STEM). She was also recognized as a recipient of the NCWIT Aspirations in Computing award.
Zoya Surani
Duke Medical School
Zoya is an MD candidate at the Duke University School of Medicine in the Primary Care Leadership Track. Prior, Zoya studied cognitive neuroscience and education at Harvard. Zoya has been passionate about both medicine and education since a young age; in high school, Zoya founded iConquer: Ubuntu and raised over $200,000 to educate youth about health and wellness.
Siya Goel
Stanford University
Siya is an undergraduate studying Computer Science at Stanford. In high school, Siya was a Research Science Institute (RSI) scholar and a 3x International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) Finalist, and she conducted research at the Purdue Center for Cancer Research, Tufts Medical Center, and the University of Michigan. This summer, Siya will be working as an AI software engineer at NVIDIA.
Lorena Aguilar
Harvard University
Lorena Aguilar is an undergraduate studying Computer Science at Harvard. Her high school did not offer any computer science courses, but she did not let this stop her. Lorena found other opportunities at Google and her community college and was named an MITES Semester Scholar (MIT program for students in STEM). She was also recognized as a recipient of the NCWIT Aspirations in Computing award.
Visit the Mentors page to view more program mentors!
Jiwoo Lee
Harvard Medical School
Jiwoo is an MD candidate in the Harvard-MIT HST Program at Harvard Medical School. Prior, she studied computational biology and biomedical informatics at Stanford. In high school, Jiwoo was awarded Best in Category at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) for her CRISPR-Cas9 research, and she has continued to pursue her passion for science and research ever since.
Katie Mishra
Stanford University
Katie studied Computer Science at Stanford while working on NLP research at Oculus. Katie founded Kangaroo, a celebrity mobile gaming company, with Kiernan Shipka; she raised $3.3M from top venture capital firms to create an interactive AI storytelling engine and app. She is currently the first Product Manager at Astrocade, an AI gaming platform co-founded by Fei-Fei Li.
Shivani Aggarwal
Harvard University
Shivi recently graduated with a Master’s degree in Philosophy in Health, Medicine, and Society from the University of Cambridge. Prior, Shivi studied integrative biology at Harvard, where she graduated magna cum laude with a 4.00 GPA, and conducted research at the Harvard Business School. Shivi now works as an associate at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
Anne Lee
Stanford University
Anne studied Computer Science at Stanford and completed her degree in 8 academic quarters (~2.5 years). During high school, Anne worked at Microsoft as a software engineering intern. She also received the Cameron Impact Scholarship, a merit-based, full-tuition scholarship to attend any university, and was admitted to Harvard by likely letter (top 100 academic applicants).
Jenny Xu
MIT
Jenny Xu is a long-distance runner, artist, programmer, gamer, fitness instructor, Forbes 30 Under 30: Games recipient, and CEO of Talofa Games. She started making games and running at age 12, and in her 12 years in the gaming industry, she’s shipped 10 titles on the mobile app stores with over 9.2 million downloads. Jenny studied at MIT and graduated with a degree in computer science.
Jessika Baral
Harvard Medical School
Jessika is an MD/PhD candidate studying Biomedical Informatics at Harvard Medical School. Prior, Jessika studied Genomics and Computational Biology at Washington University in St. Louis through the Florence Moog Fellowship, a full-tuition scholarship. In high school, Jessika conducted research at the Stanford School of Medicine and was a Science Talent Search (STS) Finalist.
Zoya Surani
Duke Medical School
Zoya is an MD candidate at the Duke University School of Medicine in the Primary Care Leadership Track. Prior, Zoya studied cognitive neuroscience and education at Harvard. Zoya has been passionate about both medicine and education since a young age; in high school, Zoya founded iConquer: Ubuntu and raised over $200,000 to educate youth about health and wellness.
Siya Goel
Stanford University
Siya is an undergraduate studying Computer Science at Stanford. In high school, Siya was a Research Science Institute (RSI) scholar and a 3x International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) Finalist, and she conducted research at the Purdue Center for Cancer Research, Tufts Medical Center, and the University of Michigan. This summer, Siya will be working as an AI software engineer at NVIDIA.
Lorena Aguilar
Harvard University
Lorena Aguilar is an undergraduate studying Computer Science at Harvard. Her high school did not offer any computer science courses, but she did not let this stop her. Lorena found other opportunities at Google and her community college and was named an MITES Semester Scholar (MIT program for students in STEM). She was also recognized as a recipient of the NCWIT Aspirations in Computing award.
Visit the Mentors page to view more program mentors!
Program Goals
The Athena Fellowship is designed to help students reach the following goals, with all workshops, events, and programming centered around these objectives.
Connect students with young female role models and mentors.
Program mentors are recent college graduates and current or incoming undergraduates, so they are uniquely positioned to provide pertinent and relatable guidance to students. Mentors serve as role models, showing students the potential they hold and what they can achieve in just a few years.
Introduce a variety of fields and opportunities to get students excited about STEM.
Providing students with early exposure to various STEM fields and opportunities is crucial to building confidence and motivation to continue pursuing STEM later on. Additionally, early exposure equips students with the knowledge to make more informed decisions about their future education and career goals.
Help students discover their fields of interest, and equip them with resources to excel in any field.
Students will not only be exposed to different fields in STEM, but they will also discover their interests and learn how to pursue and excel in their passions, no matter the field they choose.
Introduce students to different careers in STEM, and show the reality of pursuing each path.
Students will be exposed to different career pathways. From learning about what it’s actually like to attend medical school, to hearing about the different pathways in computer science and engineering, students will gain insight into the reality of different career paths.
Build core life skills that are useful for high school, college, and beyond.
The ultimate goal of the fellowship is to give students a head start in high school, college, and beyond, and equip them with core habits and skills to excel in anything they pursue.
Program Goals
The Athena Fellowship is designed to help students reach the following goals, with all workshops, events, and programming centered around these objectives.
Connect students with young female role models and mentors.
Program mentors are recent college graduates and current or incoming undergraduates, so they are uniquely positioned to provide pertinent and relatable guidance to students. Mentors serve as role models, showing students the potential they hold and what they can achieve in just a few years.
Introduce a variety of fields and opportunities to get students excited about STEM.
Providing students with early exposure to various STEM fields and opportunities is crucial to building confidence and motivation to continue pursuing STEM later on. Additionally, early exposure equips students with the knowledge to make more informed decisions about their future education and career goals.
Help students discover their fields of interest, and equip them with resources to excel in any field.
Students will not only be exposed to different fields in STEM, but they will also discover their interests and learn how to pursue and excel in their passions, no matter the field they choose.
Introduce students to different careers in STEM, and show the reality of pursuing each path.
Students will be exposed to different career pathways. From learning about what it’s actually like to attend medical school, to hearing about the different pathways in computer science and engineering, students will gain insight into the reality of different career paths.
Build core life skills that are useful for high school, college, and beyond.
The ultimate goal of the fellowship is to give students a head start in high school, college, and beyond, and equip them with core habits and skills to excel in anything they pursue.
Program Details
Schedule
The 2024 Summer Fellowship will take place from July 8th to August 2nd. The fellowship is 4-weeks long, and there will be 5 to 10 hours of programming a week. All events will take place during the evenings or on weekends, so students may attend the fellowship alongside other summer programs or activities. Students are expected to attend core events and programming, but there will also be many optional activities and challenges students may participate in if their schedule allows.
Admissions
Female students who will be entering 9th through 12th grade in Fall 2024 are eligible to apply for the program. The Athena Fellowship selects for ambitious young women who are self-motivated and driven to make an impact in the world. Prior experience in STEM is not required, but students must demonstrate academic excellence, leadership capabilities, and self-discipline. The program selects for students they believe to exhibit strong future potential in STEM.
The application deadline for the 2024 Summer Fellowship is June 12th, 2024. However, admissions are conducted on a rolling basis, meaning the selection committee reviews applications as they come in. We have a limited number of spots for the fellowship, so we encourage students to apply as soon as possible.
Program Fees and Financial Aid
The program fee to attend the 4-week summer fellowship is $875. Fees are used to cover the costs of running the program and bringing together top mentors and instructors. The Athena Fellowship provides generous need-based financial aid for families and students who cannot afford to pay full program fees. To apply for financial aid, please fill out this form and email it to finaid@athenafellowship.org within 5 days after the student submits their application. For any questions related to financial aid, please email info@athenafellowship.org.
Program Details
Schedule
The 2024 Summer Fellowship will take place from July 8th to August 2nd. The fellowship is 4-weeks long, and there will be 5 to 10 hours of programming a week. All events will take place during the evenings or on weekends, so students may attend the fellowship alongside other summer programs or activities. Students are expected to attend core events and programming, but there will also be many optional activities and challenges students may participate in if their schedule allows.
Admissions
Female students who will be entering 9th through 12th grade in Fall 2024 are eligible to apply for the program. The Athena Fellowship selects for ambitious young women who are self-motivated and driven to make an impact in the world. Prior experience in STEM is not required, but students must demonstrate academic excellence, leadership capabilities, and self-discipline. The program selects for students they believe to exhibit strong future potential in STEM.
The application deadline for the 2024 Summer Fellowship is June 12th, 2024. However, admissions are conducted on a rolling basis, meaning the selection committee reviews applications as they come in. We have a limited number of spots for the fellowship, so we encourage students to apply as soon as possible.
Program Fees and Financial Aid
The program fee to attend the 4-week summer fellowship is $875. Fees are used to cover the costs of running the program and bringing together top mentors and instructors. The Athena Fellowship provides generous need-based financial aid for families and students who cannot afford to pay full program fees. To apply for financial aid, please fill out this form and email it to finaid@athenafellowship.org within 5 days after the student submits their application. For any questions related to financial aid, please email info@athenafellowship.org.
