Please see below for a message from Pioneer Academics:
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Hello Davidson Institute Community,
Greetings from Pioneer Academics – we hope you are having a great beginning to a new school year!
We are excited to share with you a valuable educational opportunity: our 2026 Co-Curricular Summit! This is a free, virtual event for high school students, parents, and educators to connect with elite colleges, meet respected academic programs, and learn from academic leaders.
We understand how difficult it can be to connect with leading educational experts and speak directly with college admissions representatives, which is why we run this event virtually and free of charge so all interested can attend.
This year’s event is the Summit’s 5th anniversary, making it very special to us! As such, we’ve arranged for a special slate of speakers, including:
- Our keynote speaker, Former NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins
- Our plenary speaker, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Daniel Golden
- And most importantly, the Davidson Institute’s own Director of Outreach Megan Cannella! She will be a featured panelist at “Controlling the Controllables: Navigating Uncertainty in Holistic Admissions”!
Dr. Francis Collins is a physician-geneticist known for his landmark discoveries of disease genes, his leadership of the Human Genome Project, and his 12 years as Director of the National Institutes of Health. Dedicated to public service, ethical leadership, and scientific advancement, Dr. Collins was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007 and received the National Academy of Sciences’ Public Welfare Medal in 2026.
Daniel Golden is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has worked for ProPublica, Bloomberg News, and The Wall Street Journal. He received the Pulitzer Prize for reporting that shed light on legacy admissions practices and culminated in his critically acclaimed 2006 book, The Price of Admission. Golden has also reported on immigration, cybercrime, finance, and higher education.
Whether you are interested in STEM, the social sciences, or the humanities, you will find inspiring speakers and sessions at the Summit!
Mark Your Calendar:
Date: September 19, 2026
Time: Doors open at 9:00 AM US EST
Venue: Online (we’ll send your login details closer to the event – keep an eye on our Summit page!)
Register: Click here to reserve your place in the summit!
Selected College Fair Attendees Include:
- Bowdoin College
- Carnegie Mellon University
- Northwestern University
- Oberlin College
- Swarthmore College
- University of British Columbia
- University of Chicago
- University of Oxford
- University of Pennsylvania
- University of Pittsburgh
- University of Toronto
- Vanderbilt University
Selected Program Fair Attendees Include:
- Davidson Institute
- Girls Who Code
- Northwestern University Center for Talent Development
- QuestBridge
- Summer Liberal Arts Institute, Carleton College
- Wharton Global Youth Program
- Yale Young African Scholars
We look forward to welcoming you to the Summit on September 19!
Warmly,
The Pioneer Academics Summit Team