Applications Open! Enroll for Summer 2027 at 2026 Tuition Pricing Until Sept 30
Build and lead a mock organization in this 2-week leadership academy for high school students on UT Austin’s campus.
Rated 4.1 out of 5 for classroom experience by students who took this course in 2026.
Instructor:
Course Description
What makes an organization work, and how does a leader influence the way people contribute? Students form mock organizations, choose a mission and values, assign executive and functional roles, and compare nonprofit, corporate, and startup structures. Their decisions create a working case they revisit throughout the academy.
Teams build organizational charts and simulate communication breakdowns before testing different leadership styles in short meetings. Creativity and innovation activities ask them to define what the organization will create and why it matters. Students then design workplace rituals, propose a culture of belonging, and plan a team-building activity that reflects shared values.
Later challenges introduce motivation, team development, conflict, negotiation, ethics, and decision-making models. Teams debate values-based choices and justify their reasoning. For the final showcase, each organization presents its purpose, culture, structure, and lessons learned. Daily discussions, group assignments, guest perspectives, and reflection connect leadership theory with the experience of building and guiding a team.
This two-week full-day academy takes place at UT Austin. Students spend the full program focused on one intensive academy. The academy is available to residential and commuter students. Beyond class, students connect focused academic work with campus life, growing independence, and clearer direction about what students may want to study or pursue next. The program is developed by the University of Texas at Austin and offered in partnership with Summer Discovery.
What Will You Do?
• Form a mock organization with a mission, values, roles, and structure
• Build an organizational chart and resolve a simulated communication breakdown
• Practice autocratic, democratic, laissez-faire, and transformational leadership styles
• Design workplace culture, belonging, and team-building activities
• Debate an ethical challenge using decision and conflict-resolution models
• Pitch the organization’s purpose, culture, structure, and lessons learned
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
• Compare organizational structures, communication channels, and leadership styles
• Apply motivation, teamwork, conflict, and ethical-decision frameworks to group challenges
• Design and present a coherent organization with defined purpose, culture, and roles
Students will leave with a team organization model and final pitch, stronger leadership and collaboration skills, and clearer direction for study or careers involving people and management.
Students receive a University of Texas branded certificate of completion at the end of the program.
Why Leadership Skills Matter
Leadership becomes meaningful when students can see how a decision changes communication, motivation, trust, or team performance. Comparing hierarchical and flat structures shows that roles and information flow affect what a group can accomplish. Practicing several leadership styles reveals why no single approach fits every situation.
Organizational behavior also strengthens collaboration and ethical judgment. Students must listen for conflict, explain values, negotiate responsibilities, and create conditions where people can contribute. These skills support group projects, clubs, student government, work, and future study in business or the social sciences. They help students move from simply holding a title to understanding how leadership is practiced.
Who Should Attend?
This academy is for high school students who have completed 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th grade and are interested in leadership, management, psychology, entrepreneurship, teamwork, or how workplace cultures develop. It fits both students who currently hold leadership roles and those who want to understand how influence works without a formal title.
Participants should be ready to take on team responsibilities, experiment with different meeting styles, discuss organizational cases, negotiate disagreements, reflect on feedback, and present group decisions. Applicants must also complete the program application each year.
Why UT Austin?
Studying on UT Austin’s Forty Acres campus gives high-school students a substantive introduction to academic life in Austin, Texas. Courses draw from popular undergraduate fields and Austin specialties. Full-day academies offer concentrated study, while classes across the program take place in campus classrooms and laboratories and may include guest speakers and fieldwork around Austin.
The experience extends beyond class for both residential and commuting students. Residential students live in Jester Hall, eat at J2, a popular campus dining hall, and take part in activities that may range from a star party at PMA to time at Gregory Gym, Zilker Park, South Congress, or an Austin FC match. Students gain independence, meet peers, and leave with a clearer view of college life, possible directions for future study, and what it can feel like to be a Longhorn.
UT Austin Certificate of Completion
After successfully finishing this course, you will be awarded a certification completion for your accomplishment.
*This is a preview, not what you will receive