HIGH SCHOOL SUMMER PROGRAM
A Real-World Innovation Program for High Schoolers at Columbia University
High school students tackle company challenges and build lasting confidence
NEW YORK CITY • JULY 13-24, 2026
Get the Parent Program Guide
Why Parents Choose This Program
Hosted on
Columbia University campus
Challenge sponsored by Columbia Business School
Structured and supervised
college experience
Designed for
motivated students
(not your traditional camp)
Columbia Business School ranked #9 in U.S. by U.S. News | Top 2 globally by Financial Times
Why Families Choose This Program
Families often explore Hudson Lab Ventures when their child is doing well academically but has had limited opportunities to real-world work.
❋ Intentional Structure
We follow a Teach, Learn, Do methodology that feels focused, fluid and fun. Students are challenged without feeling overwhelmed.
❋ Safety & Supervision
Student safety and wellbeing are central to our program design. With clearly established expectations, students follow a daily rhythm that balances focused work time, collaboration, and readily accessible experienced staff.
❋ Collaborative Energy
Teamwork is a core part of the process. You’ll learn just as much from collaborating and communicating with your team as from the content itself.
❋ A Space for Growth
Students gain confidence from working on real and meaningful challenges that require judgment, collaboration and critical thinking.
What the HLV Experience Feels Like
Students are introduced to a real challenge, a real context, and real expectations. There is no single correct answer and no step-by-step script.
Some students find this energizing. Others feel uncertain. With structure and guidance, that uncertainty turns into confidence, and this is where meaningful growth begins.
How We Teach
Our facilitators guide the process, challenge assumptions, help navigate team dynamics, and hold students to high standards so ideas must be clearly explained and supported.
Adults engage seriously with student work entrepreneurs and guest experts offer specific, honest feedback, helping students build real confidence grounded in reasoning and effort rather than performance.
Daily Rhythm
The program follows a clear 2-week arc. Early days focus on understanding the challenge and developing strong ideas, followed by individual pitches and team formation.
Students spend the second half doing sustained, collaborative work researching and testing ideas, explaining their thinking, incorporating feedback, and learning to manage time, communicate progress, and stay engaged in complex work through to final presentations.
Am I a good fit for Hudson Lab Ventures?
Great work is rarely done alone. At Hudson Lab Ventures, we’re all about teamwork with a diverse set of strengths. Designers and business-minded students. Big-picture thinkers and detail lovers. Confident speakers and quiet listeners. Some students arrive with experience and clear opinions. Others arrive with coffee. Most students arrive unsure and rapidly grow into the experience.
No startup idea or polished résumé required. Students seeking a recreational summer are probably not the right fit. Students uncomfortable with ambiguity (often high-achievers) may struggle at first, but this program is exactly what you need. If you are curios, have follow-through and a willingness to work with others, please apply now.
Program at a glance
Duration
Two weeks (new, 1-week intro course)
Outcomes
Portfolio project, presentation, confidence
Age
High school students (rising or graduated)
Locations
Global cities with local partners
Structure
Team-based, challenge-driven
Pricing
• $3500 commuter program
• $6500 residential program
What Distinguishes Hudson Lab Ventures
According to Our Parents
Hudson Lab Ventures is an investment in students’ ability to thrive in a complex, competitive, and fast-changing world. Students join an innovation ecosystem, take on meaningful work and gain confidence from sharing their ideas well with decision makers operating at a global level.
Parents frequently report changes that extend beyond the program.
Speaking more clearly and confidently
Taking more initiative in unfamiliar situations
Reflecting more thoughtfully on decisions
Approaching challenges with more curiosity
“I can’t believe I presented to the
Board of Directors at Sonae!”
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![Diagram of Innovation Ecosystem with Students at the center, surrounded by categories: Accelerators (Government), Businesses, Non-Profits, Universities, Educators, and Hudson Lab Ventures, CO-CREATED. Logos of companies and institutions including Columbia Business School, Tamer Institute, Catholic Lisbon, Unicamp, OpenAI, Coupang, MyFitnessPal, BrightLine, Sonae, NOS, Continente, José De Mello, and others.]()
Access to an Innovation Ecosystem
Students are not working in isolation. They operate within a real innovation ecosystem, collaborating with companies, universities, accelerators, and entrepreneurs who are actively building, testing, and scaling ideas. This exposure helps students understand how ideas move through the world and where opportunity is created.
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![Group of diverse people in a meeting room listening to a woman who is speaking, with some seated at a table and others standing nearby, including a person in a wheelchair.]()
Work that is grounded in reality
Executives and directors at companies and universities present innovation challenges they are actively trying to solve. These might include questions of strategy, customer experience, sustainability, community engagement or well-being. Students learn how ideas move from curiosity to action.
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![Group of young people presenting in front of an audience at a conference or seminar with colorful banners and a large screen behind them.]()
Confidence that comes from competence
Students take on work with real expectations, think critically, contribute ideas, and explain their reasoning in unfamiliar contexts. Through constructive feedback, debate, and practice, they refine their thinking and learn to communicate with confidence and clarity in academic settings, interviews, and high-stakes presentations.
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![A group of seven young people sitting in a circle, engaging in a discussion in a brightly lit room with large windows. The room is decorated with posters and charts on the windows and walls. The group is seated on colorful blocks with messages about sustainable development goals, such as 'No Poverty' and 'Partnership for the Goals.']()
Judgment and independence
Students learn how to collaboratively identify problems and make decisions with incomplete information. Over time, they become more comfortable navigating uncertainty, weighing tradeoffs, and testing their ideas. These habits support students in school, college, and professional settings where independence, sound judgment, and follow-through matter.
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![Group of five teenagers sitting on marble staircase inside modern building.]()
A Global Perspective
Students collaborate with peers from around the world, learning about one another’s cultures while tackling complex challenges. Whether working in New York City, Lisbon or Seoul, students must understand how context, culture, and real constraints shape what works. This pushes students to adapt, ask better questions, and think beyond their own assumptions.
Parent Feedback
“Hudson Lab Ventures shifted his perspective in a powerful way!”
“What we didn't expect was to see her evolve so much in just two weeks!”
“As a Head of Innovation, this is the kind of work I do every day with my team. Watching my kid present was a proud moment.
I kept thinking how much I wish I’d had an experience like this when I was growing up.
What to Do Next
Most families take time to read, talk, and ask questions before deciding. That is exactly how this program is meant to be approached.
The best next step is to review the parent program guide, which includes full details about the experience, logistics, and how to decide if this program feels right for your child.
Get the Parent Program Guide
Hudson Lab Ventures is designed by educators and entrepreneurs who care deeply about how students grow, not just what they produce.