App Development & Foundations of Coding
Registration Details:
- Program Dates: June 14 - 19, 2026
- Cost: $1,470 (includes lodging, meals, course materials, activities, and excursions)
- Eligibility: Open to rising high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors
- Housing & Dining: Students reside in campus residence hall and dine in campus dining hall
- Deposit & Payment: A $500 deposit is required at registration, with the remaining balance due by May 1, 2026. After that date, full payment is required upon registration. Click here to view our cancellation policy.
- Enrollment: Open until all spaces are filled
- Registration: Registration is through the Camp Doc platform. Detailed step-by-step registration instructions are available here.
App Development & Foundations of Coding
The Pre-College Program in App Development and Foundations of Coding offers an immersive, hands-on learning experience for high school students interested in designing and building apps for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Vision Pro. Through engaging, collaborative activities, students gain a strong foundation in computer science while discovering how to effectively integrate AI tools into the app development process.
Using Apple’s open-source Swift programming language, students learn to create fully functional native apps and games with modern frameworks such as SwiftUI and SpriteKit. Whether participants are new to coding or expanding their skills, our guided instruction introduces them to Swift Playgrounds and Xcode—the same professional development environment used by Apple engineers.
Daily interactive sessions support skill-building in problem-solving, interface design, and core programming concepts. Students receive personalized guidance as they develop, test, and refine their own projects, gaining real-world experience in app development and software design.
This program is ideal for students interested in coding, software engineering, mobile app development, game development, or exploring future pathways in technology.
Program Topics
- Basics of computer science
- Swift programming
- SwiftUI, SpriteKit, and app design fundamentals
- Using Swift Playgrounds and Xcode
- Problem-solving and integrating AI tools
Hands-On Activities
- Building apps and simple games
- Developing and testing projects in Swift
- Working in Xcode like professional developers
- Creating and collaborating on coding and design
Sample Schedule:
| Morning | 8 a.m. – Breakfast 9 a.m. – Intro to Swift & Computer Science Concepts 10:30 a.m. - SwiftUI Workshop: Building Your First Interface 12 p.m. – Lunch & free time |
| Afternoon | 1 p.m. – Students construct the core structure of their app 3 p.m. - Project Collaboration on coding and design |
| Evening | 5 p.m. – Dinner 6:30 p.m. – Activities / Recreation / Free Time Options could include: sand volleyball, Asheville Tourists game, game night, movie 11 p.m. – Lights out |
Meet Your Faculty
A native of Asheville, NC, Charles Long eats, sleeps and breathes technology. He has an extensive IT background which started at a very young age tinkering with, programming and building computers. He spent his teenage years working at IT firms doing computer repairs, running Ethernet cabling, fiber optics, and coding websites. His major focus became Computer Science and game design. His programming knowledge covers over 15 languages and frameworks including web front-end/back-end, desktop software and mobile application development (JavaScript/CSS/HTML, Perl, PHP, Flash, Java, C, C++, C#, Microsoft .NET, Objective C and Swift). Charles is also experienced in 3D modelling / animation and digital music creation.
Charles is an Educational Technology Director responsible for overseeing IT and network operations. Charles has served 9+ years as a mentor to the youth in US FIRST Robotics, as well as sponsored many Computer Science clubs. Charles co-founded an App Development Summer Camp in 2015. He has won three CASE (Council for Advancement and Support of Education) awards for design work on an interactive virtual tour and educational apps.
He also enjoys basketball and video games. He is a devout Christian, and loves spending time with his wife, and their 4 daughters.
Bob Williams studied at the University of Georgia where he received a degree in Journalism. He has worked as a journalist, an independent school communications director and currently manages print marketing projects for large and small businesses across the Southeast at a family-owned commercial printer outside of Asheville. Bob developed a specialty in graphic design, journalism, and coding while working in independent school communications from 2003 to 2020. Bob earned his BA degree in Journalism from the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications. He co-founded an App Development Summer Camp in 2015 with his friend and colleague, Charles Long.
Having attended Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference since 2010, Bob is an experienced app developer who has taught Swift and App Development for many years. Bob’s professional recognition includes eight CASE Grand Awards for communications and marketing-related projects, and an award-winning app developed in Objective-C in 2013. He first learned Swift in 2014-15 when rebuilding the education app entirely in Swift.
In his free time, Bob enjoys playing guitar, writing songs, reading, playing golf, morning hikes with his dog, Ginger, and spending time with his wife and two children.
Questions? Please contact us at precollege@unca.edu.