Are You Up for the Challenge?
2025 Middle School C-CATS is now accepting nominations.
Our Goal
Spend the weekend exploring Clemson University while developing leadership skills and building friendships with other top performing students.
Our Outcomes
Clemson’s Challenge for Academically Talented Students (C-CATS) recruits outstanding students from SC, NC, and GA to participate in high-powered weekend retreats. Through team-building and academic sessions, students gain leadership skills, make lasting friendships, and improve their ability to think clearly and perform under pressure, all while having the time of their lives!
Tour Clemson University
Join current Clemson students for a guided campus tour to see all that Clemson has to offer, including dining hall, planetarium, and much more.
Team Building
Using activities to motivate students to work together, collaborate on tasks, and develop their strengths to achieve a common goal.
Planetarium
The students will learn about:
- Difference between Lunar and Solar Eclipses
- What an eclipse looks like from space or the ground
- Constellation history
- Night sky visibility
- The moon phases
Bob and Betsy Campbell Natural History Museum
The students will learn about:
- Prey and Predator relationship
- Identifying features that make an animal a prey or Predator
- Examples of Native animals
- How native animals fit into our ecosystem
Exciting Adventure Elements
Looking for a challenge?
Test your relational and leadership skills with our 40-foot climbing tower, archery, and other team building activities.
Photos of C-CATS
Testimonials from previous C-CATS
“Thank you for the experience, if I get the chance I would definitely do it again.”
“I would love to come back here because this was so much fun!!!”
“Clemson has always been towards the top, but this definitely raises my liking for it.”
“Overall I had a great time, I would love to come again. It was hard to choose a least favorite activity”