LINC Summer High School Program

The LINC Summer High School Program is a paid outdoor summer program run by the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, for high school students. It has two tracks. The 3-week Science & Environmental Justice Intensive (SEJI) serves 12 youth doing community science on environmental justice, such as plant and wildlife monitoring, air quality and climate change impacts, split between a field station in Marin County and San Francisco. The 6-week Summer of Outdoor Leadership (SOL) serves 24 youth through community building, service learning, camping, kayaking, career development and habitat restoration. The program is free, and participants who complete it receive an educational award of up to $1,500 (SEJI) or up to $2,400 (SOL). Work is mostly outdoors. Free shuttles run from public transit hubs to the program site.

The program is for Bay Area high school students, and no experience is required. Applicants should be able to handle challenging outdoor work, carry a backpack of up to 10 pounds and attend every program date. Students may apply to both tracks but are accepted into only one. The application is an online form with at least one reference, such as a coach, teacher, counselor or mentor. Applicants then have an in-person interview; in 2026 these were held in San Francisco and San Rafael, grouped by county of residence.