Community Engagement
Allen School K-12 Outreach
The Allen School is excited to offer multiple ways for students in kindergarten through high school to engage with us!
Connect with the Allen School
Teachers, counselors, advisers, & community organizations can visit our School Visits page to learn more about inviting the Allen School for college/career fairs and classroom visits at your school, or even scheduling a field trip to bring your students to our campus! We are excited to support as many programs as possible, but note that these opportunities are only available for schools & groups that are based in Washington state at this time. Our priority is to work with schools that serve students with limited access to computing education and college preparatory resources.
Interested in learning more about admissions? The Undergraduate Admissions page is a great place to start learning about the Allen School undergraduate majors and the support we can provide for prospective students!
Discover our Programs
Allen School Ambassadors are current University of Washington (UW) Seattle students studying Computer Science or Computer Engineering. They conduct outreach to students in grades K-12, both on the UW campus and through school and community visits, especially focusing on students from underserved backgrounds and students with limited access to computing education resources.
Every year, the Allen School observes Computer Science Education Week, an initiative led by CSEdweek.org to inspire K-12 students to learn computer science, advocate for equity in computer science education, and celebrate the contributions of students, teachers, and partners to the field.
The AiC High School Award honors 9th-12th grade high school students for their computing-related achievements and interests, and encourages them to pursue their passions. Recipients are selected based on their aptitude and aspirations in technology and computing, as demonstrated by their computing experience, computing-related activities, leadership, persistence, and future plans. Awards applications are now open – visit the AiC High School Award page to apply.
Our Summer Opportunities
Changemakers in Computing (CIC)
Changemakers in Computing (CiC) is a free summer program hosted by the University of Washington’s Allen School. CiC aims to increase the participation of economically disadvantaged and/or future first-generation college students in computer science and engineering. The program is open to all rising juniors and seniors at Washington state high schools.
Enroll in an Allen School Summer Course
U.S. high school students can earn college credit by taking courses at the University of Washington during Summer Sessions! To be eligible, you must have completed eighth grade or its equivalent by June 30 of the upcoming Summer Sessions. You can find the list of Allen School summer courses on our CSE Time Schedules page. To register for Summer Sessions as a high school student at the Seattle campus, follow the steps on the Summer Sessions page.
UW in the High School
Accessible Accordion
Since 1981, through UW in the High School (UWHS), the University of Washington has partnered with high schools across Washington state to offer UW courses for UW credit in the high school classroom. Courses are official UW courses, taught by the high school’s own teachers, who have been approved and trained by UW faculty.
Each year, more than 100 schools in Washington participate in UWHS. UWHS is what’s known as a dual credit or concurrent enrollment program. In a dual credit program, students can earn high school and college credit at the same time. Along with Running Start and Advanced Placement (AP), UWHS is one of several dual credit options available to high school students.
In Washington state, programs that allow students to earn dual credit on their high school campus by taking official college courses are called College in the High School programs.” Please visit this link to learn more about what makes UW in the High School a unique and compelling opportunity for students and educators.
As part of our participation with UW in the High School, Allen School faculty and instructional staff have built a catalog of resources that are available to our partner high school teachers that offer help in structuring their courses in the vein of the Intro CSE courses offered at the University of Washington.
We provide information about how to leverage our assignments, exams, solutions, in-class labs and worksheets, and support technology that allows students to complete practice problems and instructors to grade homework submissions. Currently offering: 121, 122, 163, 180 Considering offering: 110 **Please note that portions of this catalog of resources are password protected and only available to teachers following official acceptance into the UWHS program.
Students & Parents If you are a student or the parent of a student who is wishing to enroll in a UWHS course, please be sure to visit this page to get started. School & Teachers If you are a school or teacher school wishing to know more about the application process for becoming an official part of UWHS, please be sure to visit this page to get started. (Quoted information on this page taken from UW in the High School homepage)
Hosting a K-12 Outreach Event at the Allen School
If you’re an Allen School community member interested in hosting your own K-12 event, please visit the hosting information page (CSE NetID required) to learn about UW requirements for youth programs.
If you would like a program listed on this page, please email outreach@cs.washington.edu.
Contact Us
General inquiries and K-12 Outreach requests can be sent to outreach@cs.washington.edu.