If mathematics feels like a subject you want to pursue seriously, you may be looking for ways to push beyond your current coursework. Math programs give you a structured way to explore that commitment early.
Maths programs allow you to experience the subject more honestly. You may encounter proofs that take real effort, topics like number theory that feel unfamiliar, or modeling tasks that connect math to real problems. The pace changes. You are expected to explain every move. In doing so, you build habits that matter later in university.
Why should you choose Nevada as a high schooler?
Nevada offers access to math-focused programs through universities and STEM initiatives that welcome motivated high school students. Participating locally can be financially practical since you avoid travel and housing costs while still gaining meaningful exposure.
These programs can also strengthen your college applications. Instead of describing math as a subject you enjoy, you can demonstrate sustained engagement through structured experiences and advanced study.
Here is a curated list of 15 math programs available to high school students in Nevada! You can also check our blogs on online summer maths programs here and online maths research programs here.
15 Math Programs for High School Students in Nevada
1. UNLV Upward Bound Math and Science (TRIO)
Cost: Free (100% Federally Funded)
Location: University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV (with activities at target high schools)
Program Dates: Ongoing academic year, Saturday Academy plus summer enrichment
Application Deadline: Ongoing; no fixed expiration date
Eligibility: Ages 13-19, strictly limited to specific CCSD select schools
UNLV’s Upward Bound Math and Science program supports you through the school year with structured math instruction and advising. You work on algebra, geometry, and quantitative reasoning with a clear focus on strengthening the fundamentals that many students struggle with. The sessions are consistent and paced so you build understanding step by step rather than rushing through content. During the summer, you continue learning on campus, where math is integrated into broader STEM activities. Academic planning is part of the structure, so the math work connects to your long-term college goals.
2. UNR Engineering Outreach Programs (High School Camps)
Cost: $215 for the Aerospace Mini-Camp; $250 to $450 for full-week immersive camps
Location: University of Nevada, Reno, NV (includes off-campus field trips)
Program Dates: June 29–30 (Aerospace); July 6–10 (Engineering Adventures); July 20–24 (Civil & Environmental).
Application Deadline: Registration opens February 1 (requires a $50 non-refundable deposit)
Eligibility: Strictly Ages 15–17
UNR Engineering Outreach programs use intense, theme-based summer camps to teach applied mathematics through modern engineering challenges. High school students (specifically ages 15 to 17) can choose between a specialized two-day Aerospace mini-camp or week-long immersions like Engineering Adventures and Civil & Environmental Engineering. In these camps, you calculate measurements and test formulas to design water filtration systems or aerodynamic rockets. The math is directly tied to building and modeling, demonstrating how every equation has a real-world purpose. University faculty and industry professionals show you how to translate word problems into structured mathematical setups, and off-campus field trips allow you to see how those calculations shape the infrastructure around you.
3. UNLV Engineering Outreach Programs (High School Level)
Cost: Varies by specific program
Location: University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV
Program Dates: Summer (SISTEM is July 13–17) and year-round options
Application Deadline: Spring enrollment periods
Eligibility: Grades 9–12 (Tech Ready Rebels specifically targets Juniors and Seniors)
UNLV Engineering Outreach brings applied math and logic into high-demand, modern career pathways. Rather than generic engineering exercises, the college offers highly structured programs like SISTEM (Student Interactive Strategy for Enjoying Math), which runs in mid-July to expose students to various STEM fields and critical thinking exercises. For juniors and seniors interested in the digital architecture of math, the “Tech Ready Rebels” program offers an accelerated experiential learning pathway into Information Technology and cybersecurity. Through dual enrollment and hands-on technical training, you learn to approach complex systemic problems methodically, preparing you for immediate workforce credentials and higher education in rapidly evolving technical fields.
4. Desert Research Institute (DRI) High School STEM Programs
Cost: Free for eligible student participants; Green Box kits are free for educators
Location: Reno, NV, and Las Vegas, NV (STEM Force is Southern Nevada specific)
Program Dates: Spring and Summer outreach sessions
Application Deadline: Varies
Eligibility: STEM Force is specifically for at-risk and vulnerable youth; Flow to the Future is accessible to middle and high school students.
Desert Research Institute programs connect math to real environmental research in Nevada. Through the STEM Force, you work with scientists and examine field data from environmental studies. You organize measurements, look for patterns, and use basic statistics to understand results. The focus is on how numbers support scientific decisions, not just collecting data. In Flow to the Future, you study Nevada water systems and analyze water quality and watershed data. You apply mathematical reasoning to interpret treatment results and resource management data. The work shows how math is used to support infrastructure and environmental planning in the state.
5. Nevada Math Competition Team (ARML CTDP)
Cost: $150; check the site for ARML competition trip costs
Location: Nevada Math office, 1005 Terminal Way, Reno, NV.
Program Dates: Sunday practices during the school year; ARML competition trip each spring.
Application Deadline: Varies by year; applications are required to join the team
Eligibility: Grades 7–12 with a strong interest in competition math
Nevada Math’s Competition Team Development Program prepares committed students for the American Regions Mathematics League (ARML), a national team‑based math contest held each spring. You attend structured Sunday practice sessions in Reno where you work through challenging algebra, number theory, combinatorics, and geometry problems in a small‑group environment. Practices emphasize both individual problem‑solving and coordinated team strategies, so you learn to communicate math clearly under time pressure. Over time, you build up from shorter contest‑style questions to multi‑step problems that require sustained reasoning instead of quick tricks. By the time you travel to ARML with the regional team, you have experience moving from an initial idea to a complete written solution you can defend.
6. Nevada State Mathematics Championship (Nevada Math)
Cost: $40 ($30 with early registration; $50 late registration)
Location: In‑person sites in Reno/Sparks and Las Vegas, NV (hosted at UNR and NSU campuses)
Program Dates: Annual one‑day contest (Spring)
Application Deadline: Registration closes shortly before contest day
Eligibility: Grades 9–12 (contest offers levels for grades 1–12; high school students compete in Level 4)
The Nevada State Mathematics Championship is a one-day, in-person math contest open to students across grade levels, including a dedicated division for high school. If you compete at the high school level, you complete three written free-response rounds that test both speed and depth. The Sprint round gives you thirty minutes to solve shorter word problems where accuracy and time management matter. The Focus round allows fifteen minutes for more involved problems that require structured reasoning and a clear setup before calculation. The Team round gives you twenty minutes to work with three or four teammates, which means you must explain your thinking clearly and agree on a final answer.
7. MathRocks! Contest Series (Nevada Math)
Cost: $30 per contest ($25 early registration); $120 for a full series of six contests
Location: Nevada Math sites (primarily Reno/Sparks and Las Vegas)
Program Dates: Multiple contest dates scheduled throughout the school year (September – March)
Application Deadline: Registration required before each contest date
Eligibility: Grades 9–12 (series serves grades 1–12, with a high school level)
MathRocks! is Nevada Math’s contest series that runs across the school year and gives you repeated exposure to competition-style problems. At the high school level, the individual rounds use nationally recognized contest exams such as the ASMA, while the team round is written by Nevada Math. This structure reflects how larger state and national competitions are organized, so you get used to that format early. The rounds are timed and written in free-response format, which means you must read carefully, set up your solution clearly, and manage your time without relying on multiple-choice guessing. Problems draw from algebra, geometry, and discrete mathematics, often requiring more than one idea in a single solution.
8. American Mathematics Competitions (AMC) – Nevada Math Sites
Cost: Not speciifed
Location: Nevada Math partner sites in Nevada (primarily Reno/Sparks; some schools may host locally).
Program Dates: AMC 10/12 exams are offered on set national dates each school year.
Application Deadline: School or site registration deadlines follow national AMC registration windows.
Eligibility: AMC 10 – students in 10th grade or below, under 17.5 years old; AMC 12 – advanced high school students meeting age/grade criteria.
Nevada Math coordinates access to the American Mathematics Competitions so Nevada high school students can sit for the AMC 10 and AMC 12 exams locally. These 25‑question, 75‑minute exams cover high school math up through the 10th‑grade curriculum for AMC 10 and more advanced topics for AMC 12, emphasizing non‑routine problem solving over rote procedures. Doing well can qualify you for subsequent invitational rounds in the national contest pipeline, eventually leading toward the International Mathematical Olympiad. Preparing for AMC typically involves working through past problems, analyzing multiple solution methods, and spotting patterns, which makes it a strong complement to regular school math.
9. Nevada Math Enrichment Classes (Northern Nevada)
Cost: Varies by class
Location: Northern Nevada (primarily Reno/Sparks area)
Program Dates: After‑school or weekend sessions offered during the school year; occasional short courses
Application Deadline: Rolling registration while seats remain
Eligibility: Grades 9–12 (organization serves grades 1–12; students are grouped by level).
Nevada Math is a non‑profit that offers math opportunities for students in grades 1–12, including contests, camps, classes, and a regional competition team. High school–level classes and workshops focus on deepening your problem‑solving abilities beyond the standard curriculum, often drawing on topics that appear in competitions like AMC and ARML. Small class sizes allow instructors to push you with challenging problems while still checking each step of your reasoning.
10. Stanford University Mathematics Camp (SUMaC Online)
Cost: $3,750
Location: Online
Application Deadline: February 2
Dates: Session One: Online – June 15 – July 3; Session Two: Online – July 6 – July 24
Eligibility: Applicants must be rising juniors and seniors. Additionally, students should have strong math grades and a teacher recommendation.
At SUMaC, you spend three weeks working through advanced mathematics in a structured and demanding setting. Each day includes problem sets that require careful reasoning, followed by live discussions where solutions are examined step by step. You choose between Number Theory and Abstract Algebra or Algebraic Topology, and both courses focus on proof writing rather than computation. The emphasis is on understanding definitions, constructing logical arguments, and defending each claim clearly on paper. Teaching assistants guide small group work, and you collaborate with peers who are comfortable with challenging material.
11. MIT PRIMES
Cost: Free
Location: Online
Application Deadline: Typically in December
Dates: Annual program from Jan to December
Eligibility: High school juniors and sophomores (including home-schooled) residing in the United States are eligible if they live no closer than 50 miles from Boston
PRIMES-USA is a year-long online mathematics research program run by MIT for high school sophomores and juniors who live outside the Greater Boston area. You begin with a reading phase where you study advanced mathematical material independently and write a report that shows you understand the theory. If you move into the research phase, you are matched with a mentor who guides you through an open problem. Meetings take place regularly, and you spend the year writing proofs, testing arguments, and refining results. You submit progress reports and eventually complete a full research paper that presents your findings in formal mathematical style. At the end of the program, you present your work at the PRIMES conference, and some projects go on to be submitted to journals or shared at larger math conferences.
12. Johns Hopkins CTY – Online Math Courses (With Financial Aid)
Cost: $446 for 3-week courses, up to $1,850 for 12-week courses; financial aid available for qualifying families
Location: Online
Program Dates: School-year and summer terms
Application Deadline: Rolling; early application recommended
Eligibility: Grades 9–12 meeting placement criteria.
CTY offers instructor-led math courses from honors algebra through advanced calculus. You work through graded assignments that require you to show your reasoning in advanced algebra, geometry, calculus, and higher-level topics. Instructors review your work and provide feedback on both correct answers and the clarity of your solution steps. Financial aid applications can significantly reduce tuition for qualifying families. Courses follow structured pacing with deadlines, so you practice managing your time while keeping up with college-preparatory material.
13. PhET Interactive Simulations
Cost: Free
Location: Online
Program dates: Self-paced
Application deadline: Open enrollment
Eligibility: Anyone can download the simulations
PhET, developed by the University of Colorado Boulder, is a nonprofit platform that offers interactive math and science simulations. In the math and statistics section, you work with topics such as number pairs, mean, ratio and proportion, fractions, area model algebra, and calculus concepts. Each simulation lets you change values, move sliders, and observe how results shift in real time. Instead of reading formulas only, you see how relationships behave visually. Measurement tools inside the simulations allow you to test ideas and check outcomes directly.
14. Art of Problem Solving (AoPS) – Intermediate Algebra
Cost: $670
Location: Virtual
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions
Program Dates: Self-Paced
Eligibility: High school students
Art of Problem Solving’s Intermediate Algebra course covers advanced algebra topics in a structured online format. You work through quadratics, polynomials, conic sections, functions, logarithms, and systems of equations in depth. The course also introduces sequences and series, symmetric sums, classical inequalities, and functional equations. Lessons focus on reasoning through multi-step problems rather than applying shortcuts. You are expected to show full solutions and understand why each step works.
15. CTC Math
Cost: Not specified
Location: Virtual
Program Dates: Self-paced
Application Deadline: Rolling
Eligibility: High school students
CTC Math is an online program that offers more than one thousand short tutorial videos covering math from arithmetic through calculus. Each lesson runs for a few minutes and explains a concept step by step before moving to practice. You can repeat videos as many times as needed and move forward at your own pace. Built-in assessments help you check whether you understand the method before progressing. The platform is organized by topic so you can review specific areas or follow a full sequence.
One more option – Horizon Academic Research Program
If you’re looking for a competitive mentored research program in subjects like mathematics, machine learning, and coding, consider applying to Horizon’s Research Seminars and Labs! This is a selective virtual research program that lets you engage in advanced research and develop a research paper on a subject of your choosing. Horizon has worked with 1000+ high school students so far and offers 600+ research specializations for you to choose from. You can find the application link here!
Image source – Johns Hopkins University