If you’ve been researching AI and robotics programs in Long Island for students, you’ve probably come across a lot of vague descriptions. “Hands-on learning.” “Real-world applications.” “Cutting-edge curriculum.” But what does a day in the program actually look like? What are students doing hour by hour?
Here’s an honest look at what happens inside Sunrise Technology’s one-week High School Summer Program at Stony Brook University’s CEWIT.
It Starts With a Morning Check-In, Not a Lecture
Students arrive and check in between 9:00 and 9:30 each morning. This isn’t just administrative. It’s a chance to reset, reconnect with teammates, and get mentally prepared for the day ahead. The program runs 9:30am to 4:30pm, and the structure shifts day by day based on where the group is in the curriculum and what concepts need more time.
Lectures That Teach You to Think, Not Just Listen
When lecture time begins, it’s nothing like a standard high school class. Students are learning graduate-level material in machine learning, deep learning, and neural networks. The instruction is designed to teach through practice rather than theory alone, which means concepts are introduced in direct connection to what students will be applying on the cars that same day.
In 2026, the program is placing even greater emphasis on hands-on learning, with more scripts and applied exercises woven directly into instruction time. Guest speakers are also being introduced this year. That includes professors bringing in perspectives from outside traditional STEM fields, showing students how AI is already reshaping areas like medicine, economics, and beyond.
Then Come the Computers
After the lecture wraps up, students move into coding sessions using Python. Nobody is writing programs from scratch. Sunrise provides a structured coding framework, and students fill in the missing lines or customize existing code to accomplish specific tasks. This approach is intentional. It mirrors how professional engineers actually work, and it means students spend their time problem-solving rather than getting stuck on syntax.
They also learn to debug. When something doesn’t work, which it often won’t on the first try, students learn how to identify what went wrong and fix it. That troubleshooting process is one of the most valuable skills they take home.
The Part Everyone Remembers: The Cars
The majority of the day is spent on hands-on project work with a patent-pending self-driving RC car developed by Sunrise Technology itself. This is the hardware students are programming, testing, and refining all week. The car is derived from a DOE SBIR-funded research project, which means students aren’t working with toy kits. They’re working with a platform built for actual research.
The cars also use sensors from the smartphones Sunrise provides, bringing real-world data collection into the mix. When students run their code on the car and watch it respond to the environment around it, that’s when everything clicks. The theory stops being abstract and becomes something they can see moving across the floor.
Afternoons tend to be the most energetic part of the day. Students are iterating on their projects, watching their code in action, and often going back to fix things that didn’t behave as expected. With a maximum class size of 24 and multiple teaching assistants in the room, students get real support when they’re stuck.
A Project Worth Showing Off
By the end of the week, every student completes a fully functional self-driving car project. While students can’t share the underlying code externally, they’re encouraged to post their projects on social media and can include them in college or internship applications. For many students, it’s the most substantive technical project they’ve ever completed, and it comes with a completion certificate co-signed by CEWIT.
Who This Is For | AI Summer Program for High Schoolers
The program is open to students entering 9th through 12th grade in the 2026/2027 school year, and it’s designed to be accessible whether or not someone has a coding background. What matters more than prior experience is curiosity and a willingness to push through challenges.
As one alum put it: “I had an incredible amount of fun during this summer program. I learned a variety of things and received an opportunity that none of my peers have been able to get.“
That’s the goal. Not just a week of activities, but a week that changes what a student thinks is possible for them in this field.
The 2026 program runs July 6–10 and July 20–24 at CEWIT, Stony Brook University. Space is limited to 24 students per session. Apply here.
