June 26-30, 2023
3121 Heritage Trade Drive
Wake Forest, NC 27587
Join us for our popular week-long, in-person institute for rising high school juniors and seniors!
Register Now!
Calling all rising high school juniors and seniors! This year, we are restructuring and expanding our program and offering the choice of two separate tracks!
Participants of our 3rd annual Summer Institute will enjoy a full week immersion alongside Thales College undergraduate students in a fun, fast-paced, and interactive seminar course. For those interested in college credit, both tracks include 2-credit hours applicable to future enrollment at Thales College.*
*To earn the optional Thales College credits for participation in the course, students will be assigned a final project at the end of Summer Institute. Students must complete the assignment and submit it electronically within two weeks following the completion of Summer Institute. Professors will grade the assignment as well as the student’s participation within the course and will issue a final grade and transcript applicable to the Entrepreneurial Business and Classical Education majors (Track A) or the Mechanical Engineering major (Track B).
Track A:
Invest in Your Future: Classical Wisdom for Understanding the Stock Market & Mastering Personal Finance

BUS 110 - Stocks, Bonds, Investments, and Personal Finance
This course covers the practical financial knowledge students need. Students will learn essential personal finance concepts and skills, grasp stocks and bonds and their associated benefits and risks, and examine good investment techniques. The course will give students the knowledge and practical foundation needed to live prudent, shrewd, and financially-sound lives of continual improvement.
Track B:
Aristotle, Algorithms, and App-Building: A Classical Approach to Computer Programming

EGR 100 - Introduction to Programming
This course covers basic programming skills and the underlying principles behind them. A progression is made from logical operations and conditional statements to the development of algorithms, flowcharts, and pseudo-code. Syntax is taught from a C-based language. Practical applications may include basic game design, web or app development, or other at the instructor’s discretion.
Both Tracks Include:
- Rigorous college level instruction by qualified professors & opportunity to earn college credit
- Learning and working alongside current Thales College undergraduate students
- Interactive student projects to apply the knowledge learned
- Interactive lecture 8am-12pm, lunch and free-time 12pm-1pm, guided project development 1pm-5pm daily
- Daily snacks and catered lunch
- Thales College merch and Summer Institute T-shirt
- Go Ape Zipline and Adventure Park ropes course outing on Wednesday afternoon
- Family catered dinner to end the week
- Excellent resumé builder!
Featuring:
— Bartley Danielsen, Ph.D. —
Associate Professor of Finance
Poole College of Management, North Carolina State University
— Phillip Johnson, Ph.D. —
Engineering & Sciences Professor
Thales College
— Peter Forrest, Ph.D. —
Dean of Humanities
Thales College
Additional guest lecturers TBA!
Register Now!
Limited seats available.
$300 per student on or before May 1st
$350 per student after May 1st
$75 non-refundable deposit required to register
Note: All students in both tracks will be required to bring their own laptop computer to use throughout the week. Students who enroll in Track B will need to register on their own for a MATLAB license, which costs $49. Dress code for Summer Institute 2023 is business casual.