Free Internships for High School Students
EC Finder currently lists 304 free internships for high school students. Of these, 98 offer virtual participation and 294 list a specific application deadline. Examples include AAJA JCamp, AAN Neuroscience Research Prize, and ACS Project SEED.
- 304
- listed
- 287
- free
- 98
- virtual
- 294
- with a listed deadline
Frequently Asked Questions
- What are free internships for high school students?
- Free Internships for High School Students are curated extracurricular listings for high school students. Each listing includes eligibility, cost, and deadline details where known, so you can compare options and find the right fit for your college application profile.
- When are the application deadlines?
- 294 of the 304 internships listed here have a specific deadline month noted. Deadlines vary by program, so check each listing for exact dates.
- Are these internships free?
- Yes, this page only shows free opportunities. EC Finder also lists both free and paid options if you want to compare.
- Can I participate virtually?
- Yes — 98 of the 304 internships listed here offer virtual or online participation.
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304 activities found·Browse by category
AAJA JCamp
Free 6-day multicultural journalism camp for sophomores/juniors, fully covered.
AAN Neuroscience Research Prize
Submit a research paper on a neuroscience topic. Winners present at the American Academy of Neurology conference.
ACS Project SEED
Paid summer research internship in chemistry and biochemistry labs for economically disadvantaged students with a $4,000 stipend.
ACS Project SEED - Northern California Sites
National, highly structured chemistry internship placing low-income HS students into real chemistry labs; many placements in Bay Area universities and companies.
AFRL Scholars Program
A paid eight-week summer research internship that places upper-level high schoolers directly with Air Force Research Laboratory scientists and engineers at sites across the U.S. to work on real research and technology projects.
AGU Bright STaRS
American Geophysical Union program inviting middle and high schoolers worldwide to present original Earth and space science research, including earthquake and seismology topics, as a poster at AGU's Annual Meeting, with complimentary conference registration included.
Alameda County High School Student Election Worker Program
Alameda County's Registrar of Voters allows eligible high school students to serve as paid Election Workers on Election Day, helping run polling places while earning money and gaining hands-on experience in how elections are administered.
Alameda County Science & Engineering Fair
County science fair leading to CSEF and ISEF qualification.
American Academy of Neurology Neuroscience Research Prize
National competition co-sponsored with the Child Neurology Society for original high school research on the brain and nervous system, judged on relevance, creativity, and data interpretation.
American Anthropological Association Virtual High School Internship
A four-week virtual spring internship run by the American Anthropological Association in which high school students research contemporary anthropological scholarship and adapt it into public-facing content for a 6th-12th grade audience, alongside a rotating secondary project focused on accessibility or public education.
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
An international nonprofit organization that trains and supports amateur and student astronomers in observing and reporting variable star brightness data used in real astrophysics research. AAVSO offers free beginner tutorials (including a no-equipment-needed 10-Star Tutorial), webinars, mentorship, and community forums for students starting in observational astrophysics.
American Cancer Society High School Cancer Research Program
A two-week virtual summer program (part of ACS's CICRT initiative) in which rising sophomores through seniors interested in cancer research or health professions complete case studies with the eCLOSE Institute, receive career-development support, and earn a $500 stipend.
AMNH Science Research Mentoring Program (SRMP)
A year-long (August-June) paid research program for NYC 10th and 11th graders at the American Museum of Natural History, beginning with a 4-week summer institute followed by mentored research with museum scientists in fields including anthropology, astrophysics, and biology, totaling 260 hours.
Archaeological Research Institute (ARI) Internship
Semester-based internships at the Archaeological Research Institute open to high school, college, and vocational students in departments including archaeology, land stewardship, historic preservation, and education, offered as both paid and unpaid positions with academic advisor coordination available for school credit.
Asian Art Museum ArtSpeak Internship
Paid HS interns learn Asian art traditions, collaborate with local artists, interview museum staff on arts careers, and design/teach visitor art activities.
Audubon Youth Leaders (California)
Paid internship where CA high schoolers develop leadership skills, do hands-on native-habitat restoration, and complete a youth-led conservation action project at an Audubon center.
Bank of America Student Leaders
Juniors/seniors work a paid 6-8 week summer internship at a local nonprofit, then attend a Leadership Summit in Washington, DC alongside Bank of America leaders.
Bar Association of San Francisco Law Academy
Yearlong legal curriculum leading into a paid six-week summer internship at law firms/public interest orgs.
BAVC Media Next Gen
Next Gen is a free semester-long after-school media program at BAVC Media in San Francisco for youth ages 14-17, distinct from BAVC's other youth offerings like Climate Warriors. Students choose a track in DSLR video production/cinematography (Factory) or frame/stop-motion animation, meet twice weekly, and can earn a $300 completion incentive while building a college-application portfolio.
Bay Area BioGENEius Challenge
The most rigorous biotechnology project competition. You must have original research (e.g., from a science fair project) to enter.
Bay Area BioGENEius Challenge (Applied Math Track)
A high-level research competition. Winning projects often use bioinformatics (statistical analysis of genetic data).
Baylor College of Medicine SMS Summer Research Program
An eight-week Houston-based lab internship for students who completed Baylor's Saturday Morning Science program, giving them full-time mentored research experience in an active BCM laboratory plus weekly professional-development sessions.
Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Research Lab (BAIR) High School Summer Program
Free 1-week program at UC Berkeley covering machine learning, natural language processing, computer vision, robotics, and AI ethics. Mentored by Berkeley graduate students.
Berkeley Community Media Youth Internship Program
A free, hands-on media internship for teens 13 and older at Berkeley Community Media's public-access studio, where interns learn producing, directing, camera operation, lighting, and sound while completing three studio productions over a 20-week commitment.
Berkeley Lab Director's Apprenticeship Program (BLDAP)
A project-based high school STEM program designed to help grades 10-11 develop 21st century skills at Berkeley Lab.
Berkeley Lab Experiences in Research (EinR)
Research placements at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab with many projects involving modeling, computation, and data analysis in scientific contexts.
BioGENEius Challenge
Biotechnology research competition for original projects in healthcare, sustainability, and environment.
Biotech Partners (East Bay)
A vocational program for Berkeley/Oakland students that places you in paid internships at companies like Bayer or Grifols.
Broad Summer Scholars Program
A highly selective, tuition-free six-week Broad Institute program pairing Boston-area rising seniors with genomics scientists to conduct original research in areas like cancer biology, computational biology, and infectious disease.
Brookhaven National Laboratory High School Research Program (HSRP)
A competitive six-week commuter research program at Brookhaven National Lab where students who have completed 11th grade work directly with scientific and engineering staff on real DOE-mission research projects.
Buck Institute for Research on Aging (Summer Scholars)
Located in Novato. Research focuses on molecular biology of aging. Projects involve significant genetics work (CRISPR, gene expression).
C-SPAN StudentCam
A national documentary competition where students make a short film on an annual civic/political theme incorporating C-SPAN footage, with $100,000 in total prizes across 150 winners.
California Academy of Sciences - Careers in Science (CiS) Intern Program
Multi-year, paid internship where students do authentic research or environmental projects and science communication; very selective for SF youth.
California Academy of Sciences Careers in Science (CiS) Intern Program
Paid multi-year internship for SF students conducting fieldwork with Academy scientists.
California Highway Patrol Explorer Program
A statewide CHP program (with posts including San Jose) for teens ages 15-20 with a 2.0+ GPA who train alongside officers in traffic safety, community outreach, and law-enforcement procedures, including ride-alongs and a regional Explorer Academy.
California Science & Engineering Fair (CSEF)
State-level science fair; qualify through county/regional fairs for prizes totaling over $30,000.
California State Assembly Student Internship Program
Students work in an Assemblymember's district office on constituent services, outreach, and civic events.
CalMatters Youth Journalism Initiative
CalMatters' Youth Journalism Initiative prepares California middle and high school students for journalism careers through in-person workshops, teacher training, and student opportunities like the JCal Student Reporter Summer Camp, which pairs a small cohort of California high schoolers with professional reporters for mentorship, legislator interviews, reporting projects, and newsroom field trips. The initiative, based at the nonprofit Sacramento newsroom CalMatters, also runs occasional video contests with cash prizes.
Caltech Earthquake Fellows
A selective Caltech Seismological Laboratory program pairing Pasadena/Alhambra-area 10th and 11th graders with earthquake scientists for roughly 130 hours across spring Saturdays and a summer weekday block. Fellows build their own Raspberry Shake seismometer, analyze real earthquake data, take field trips, and present findings at a culminating event.
Caltech Summer Research Connection (ZTF track)
6-week research placement for Pasadena USD students analyzing real Caltech telescope survey data.
Caltech YESS (Young Engineering and Science Scholars)
Intensive 6-week summer program for underrepresented students in STEM; includes physics research and mentorship.
Careers in Science (CiS) Intern Program
Multi-year paid internship for SF high schoolers underrepresented in STEM; interns rotate through Academy science departments, engage in citizen science and public science communication, culminating in an independent research/outreach project.
CERN High School Student Programme
3-week summer internship at CERN (Geneva) for students 16+; work with particle physicists on cutting-edge experiments.
CFI Education Young Curators Program (Mill Valley Film Festival)
A free, four-week online program for grades 9-12 held on Fridays in July, where students watch short films from around the world, engage in critical discussion, and collaborate as a jury to curate the youth-produced shorts program presented at the Mill Valley Film Festival.
CHOP Neurology High School Scholars Program
A paid five-week internship at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia pairing sophomores through seniors with a neurologist or neuroscientist mentor for a research project, clinical shadowing, and a final poster presentation. Program is paused for 2026, set to resume July 2027.
CIRM SPARK Program
Statewide, paid six-week California stem cell and regenerative medicine research internship for high schoolers, run at eleven partner institutions across CA.
Cleaver Magazine Editorial Internship
A literary magazine internship in which student editors read and vote on fiction, poetry, and nonfiction submissions, help proofread issues before publication, and write a book review, working 5-10 hours per week.
Climate Corps Leadership Institute (Watsonville Wetlands Watch)
A year-long paid internship for Watsonville high school students that builds climate action leadership through hands-on watershed and wetland work. Interns gain experience in urban forestry, habitat restoration, community science monitoring, and climate justice advocacy in the Pajaro Valley, presented in partnership with local schools.
Code For Fun – Internship and Volunteer
Organization teaching kids to code; HS students can intern or volunteer as teaching assistants and outreach helpers.
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Partners for the Future
A prestigious Long Island program that pairs students, nominated during junior year, with CSHL scientist mentors for original biomedical research from September through March, sometimes leading to co-authorship on published papers.
Colonial Williamsburg Public Archaeology Institute
A free, highly selective one-week summer program (two sessions, 10 students each) for students entering grades 9-12, working alongside Colonial Williamsburg archaeologists excavating Custis Square, learning artifact identification, site recording, and interpretation, and concluding with a guided public site tour.
Columbia Zuckerman Institute BRAINYAC
Places NYC high schoolers in Columbia neuroscience labs to work one-on-one with scientist mentors on ongoing research, entered via partner-organization nomination.
Conservation Colorado Internship
Internship at Conservation Colorado, the state's largest environmental advocacy organization, for high schoolers and college students with interests spanning political science, sociology, sustainability science, and environmental science. Interns develop persuasive writing and policy-research skills supporting Colorado conservation campaigns.
Coriell Institute Summer Experience for High School Students
A paid four-week internship in Camden, NJ where high schoolers rotate through Coriell Institute's biobanking, stem cell, and molecular biology labs, learning techniques like karyotyping and DNA extraction before presenting their work.
Coro Northern California – Exploring Leadership
Transformative 6‑week summer civic leadership fellowship in San Francisco with leadership training, an internship placement at a nonprofit, business, or government agency, and a community action project; Fellows receive a stipend and work on real community issues.
CS@Mines High School Summer Internship & Programming Project
Colorado School of Mines hosts high school students for summer computer science research internships (scholarship-funded at $20/hour for selected applicants, with topics including AI, robotics, cybersecurity) and a 5-week virtual computer programming project program ($200) where students build a CS project in teams. Priority application deadline April 10.
CU Anschutz Department of Pediatrics Summer Research
Summer research opportunity for high school seniors (must be 18+ at start of program) at Children's Hospital Colorado and the CU Anschutz Medical Campus, working in faculty labs on developmental biology and pediatric medicine projects. Application typically due February 1.
CURYJ Homies 4 Justice (H4J)
A 15-week paid internship in Oakland for youth ages 14-18 impacted by incarceration, immigration, or foster care systems, providing political education, healing-centered leadership development, and training in community organizing for alternatives to incarceration.
Data Science Institute Summer Lab (University of Chicago)
A paid eight-week summer research program in which Chicago-area high school students are paired with a UChicago Data Science Institute mentor to conduct applied data-science research across domains such as public policy, climate, and biomedicine.
Davidson Fellows (Science)
Prestigious scholarship program awarding up to $50,000 for significant original research projects in biology and science fields.
Davis Media Access Production Internship
A six-month internship for high school juniors and seniors at Davis Media Access, learning to capture and edit footage for cable programming and social media; typically completed for school credit through a partnership with Davis Joint Unified School District.
Delaware BioGENEius Challenge
A state-affiliate biotechnology research competition run by the Delaware Biotechnology Institute at the University of Delaware, feeding into the International BioGENEius Challenge with original biotech/genetics research.
Denver Museum of Nature & Science – Teen Science Scholars
Selective paid internship that places 20 high schoolers from underserved or underrepresented backgrounds into the Museum's Science Division each year, doing real scientific work alongside Museum scientists and exploring museum and STEM careers. Includes a stipend of about $1,800 per session plus professional development in public speaking and college planning.
Dickinson College Commentaries High School Online Internship
A six-week unpaid virtual internship for rising high school juniors and seniors who have completed Latin 3, contributing to the Dickinson College Commentaries website by editing vocabulary and notes, adding media, and creating content for classical Latin and Greek texts (Catullus, Vergil, Augustine, and others) alongside professional classicists.
Duke Cell Biology Academy (CeBA)
Paid 6-week summer research program for Research Triangle-area high schoolers to conduct mentored cell and molecular biology research in Duke University labs.
Duke Clinical Research Institute STAR Program
A summer program at the Duke Clinical Research Institute that exposes high school and college students to clinical research methods and the operations behind large-scale medical studies.
Duke University Neuroscience Experience (DUNE)
A full-time paid summer neuroscience research internship at Duke University for Durham-area sophomores and juniors, pairing students with faculty mentors in active Duke neuroscience labs plus professional-development workshops.
EarthCache
A free, worldwide geology-focused offshoot of geocaching, developed with the Geological Society of America. Participants use GPS coordinates to visit geologically significant real-world sites, answer earth-science questions about what they observe, and can complete self-paced EarthCache Academy lessons on topics like geologic time, fossils, and earthquakes.
EarthEcho Water Challenge
Global citizen-science initiative empowering students to test local water quality (turbidity, temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen) and submit findings to a public database that informs local water-protection projects.
Earthwatch Ignite
Earthwatch program offering 12-14 day field research expeditions across the U.S. that pair high school students from underserved schools and communities with practicing scientists on live conservation research projects.
Earthwatch Teen Expeditions (Ignite Fellowship)
Fully-funded field research expeditions run by the nonprofit Earthwatch Institute that place high schoolers alongside professional scientists studying conservation topics like wildlife, climate, and habitat protection.
EDIT AI Summer Internship Program
A hybrid computational research internship where high school students with prior machine learning exposure use Python and AI/ML techniques to analyze biomedical data such as pathology images and genomic sequences, mentored by researchers at partner sites including Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Enterprise for Youth: Job Readiness Training
A San Francisco nonprofit workshop series that prepares high school students for the workforce through interview practice, resume building, and workplace-readiness training; it serves as the entry point into Enterprise for Youth's paid internship placements, and students earn a completion stipend.
Enterprise for Youth: Paid Internship Program
A San Francisco nonprofit's paid internship placement program for high school juniors and seniors, offering roles across industries such as tech, retail, healthcare, and small business. Interns complete 75 hours (about 12 hours/week) with weekly professional development workshops and job coach support.
Exoplanet Watch (NASA)
A NASA citizen-science project in which volunteers, including complete beginners, observe exoplanet transits with their own telescope or request free archival/robotic-telescope data, analyze the resulting light curves with NASA's free EXOTIC software, and submit results to a shared scientific database.
FACES for the Future at San Francisco
A school-year academic program at John O'Connell and Mission High Schools pairing SFUSD juniors and seniors with public-health and clinical internship placements (Health Scholars and Public Health Youth Corps pathways), workshops, and professional certifications to build a pipeline into healthcare careers.
Fermilab Friends Summer Internship
Summer research internship at Fermilab for students interested in particle physics and accelerator science.
FIRST Global Challenge
An international robotics olympics-style event with typically one team per country tackling a global-challenge-themed game each year, emphasizing international collaboration on grand challenges.
Foodwise Teens
A free youth development program from the San Francisco nonprofit Foodwise (formerly CUESA) that trains SFUSD high school students in sustainable food systems through three tracks: Seed (foundational after-school learning), Grow (teen-led projects), and Cultivate (paid summer job placements with mentorship in gardens, kitchens, and farmers markets).
Foothill College Independent Study in Astronomy (ASTR 70R–73R)
A student-designed independent research option within Foothill College's astronomy department that lets dual-enrolled high schoolers contract with an instructor to carry out their own astronomy research project for transferable college credit.
Fox Chase Cancer Center Immersion Science Program
Free Philadelphia-based laboratory training program for high schoolers 16+, including a hands-on molecular biology training lab and an advanced Summer Fellows research track.
Fred Hutch Summer High School Internship Program (SHIP)
A paid eight-week Seattle-based cancer research internship for 11th-12th graders with little to no prior research experience, opening with two weeks of lab-technique training before mentored work in a Fred Hutch research group.
Freedom Archives Internships
Nonprofit archive in San Francisco focused on social-justice and radical-history media. Internships help with archival research and digitization.
Galaxy Zoo (Zooniverse)
A Zooniverse citizen-science project, active since 2018, in which volunteers classify the shapes of distant galaxies from telescope images, including new imagery from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, to help astronomers study how galaxies form and evolve.
Garcia Center for Polymers at Engineered Interfaces - Summer Research
7-week paid research at Stony Brook University; polymer physics and materials science projects for HS students.
GeneLab for High Schools (NASA Ames)
Summer program at NASA Ames analyzing spaceflight genomics data with a capstone symposium competition.
Generation Human Rights (GenHR) Student Internship
A remote internship with the nonprofit Generation Human Rights in which high school and university students help develop human rights education curricula, conduct research, and support organizational projects.
Genesys Works Bay Area
A nonprofit connecting underserved Bay Area high school juniors and seniors with eight weeks of business-technology and professional-development training followed by a paid, year-long internship at a partner company plus 60+ hours of college and career coaching.
Genetics Immersion Program (University of Michigan)
A free six-week summer research program in which high schoolers are paired with a Ph.D. or postdoctoral mentor in the University of Michigan Department of Human Genetics to design and run an original genetics research project, with a stipend, free transportation, and daily meals provided.
Genspace Biorocket Youth Research Internship
A community-lab internship teaching genetic-engineering and biology lab skills plus science communication, with scientific mentors, lab tours, and field trips.
Getty Museum Teen Gallery Guides
Paid interns learn to research and lead gallery talks/tours at the Getty Center/Villa, building public speaking and art-history skills with museum professionals.
Glisten National Student Council
A national youth leadership program run by Glisten (formerly GLSEN) for LGBTQ+ and ally high schoolers in grades 9-12 to build advocacy and leadership skills and help shape the organization's programs addressing school climate, racial justice, gender justice, and disability justice. Selected students receive a $1,000 stipend for their year of service on the council.
GLOBE Program (NASA)
Free international citizen-science program in which students collect and submit standardized environmental observations on atmosphere, water, soil, and land cover that feed a global database used by researchers and scientists worldwide.
GLSEN National Student Council
A paid national leadership program in which LGBTQ+ and allied high school students advise GLSEN on its programs, resources, and school-safety strategy. Members meet regularly, give feedback on GLSEN's work, and lead advocacy projects in their own communities.
GRAMMY Museum Songwriting Sessions
A free five-day non-residential songwriting workshop for currently enrolled high schoolers, hosted by the GRAMMY Museum in Los Angeles. Students build foundational songwriting, production, and music-business skills through hands-on sessions led by music industry professionals.
GRIPS at Stanford
GRIPS is a roughly 8-week research-intensive program placing HS students in Stanford labs; similar rigor to SIP/SIMR.
Hands-On Health (Ridgeline Pathways)
A free four-day, in-person healthcare exploration program for low-income 11th and 12th graders in Contra Costa County focused on nuclear medicine and medical imaging, culminating in a $400 completion stipend and held partly at the Kaiser Permanente School of Allied Health Sciences.
HEAL Internship Program (Alameda Health System HealthPATH)
A clinical-rotation workforce internship for Oakland high schoolers at Alameda Health System's Highland Hospital, exposing students to fields like emergency medicine, pediatrics, and nursing, with elective school credit and a stipend or scholarship for successful completers via the OUSD partnership.
Heal the Bay – MPA Watch Internship
Ten-week summer internship at Heal the Bay's Science, Policy, and Outreach Department in Santa Monica, California. Interns conduct field surveys at Marine Protected Areas, contribute to coastal conservation research, and gain experience in environmental social science and policy. Unpaid with a transportation stipend; runs early June through early August.
HealthX Fellowship (Ridgeline Pathways)
A free six-month, out-of-school healthcare career pathway for Contra Costa County 11th and 12th graders (priority to Richmond residents), combining weekly afterschool sessions, BLS certification, mentorship, and a completion stipend, with no GPA or prior healthcare experience required.
High School Fed Challenge
Teams research an assigned economic theme (2025-26: "economics of music") and write podcast scripts, with top entries published in the Fed's Journal of Future Economists.
High School Health Research Challenge (HSHRC)
A virtual competition run by the High School Health Research Forum in which full-time students in grades 9-12 worldwide submit original, evidence-based proposals addressing a societal health issue; the 2026 season was listed as forthcoming as of this research.
History Unfolded: US Newspapers and the Holocaust
A nationwide citizen-history project from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum inviting students to research how local U.S. newspapers reported on Holocaust-era events and upload articles to a national database.
Hoover Institution Student Fellowship
Selective fellowship at Stanford's Hoover Institution where students work with scholars on economic policy research projects.
Hutton Junior Fisheries Biology Program
An eight-week paid summer mentorship sponsored by the American Fisheries Society that pairs high school students with local fisheries professionals for hands-on aquatic and fisheries science fieldwork.
IceCube Masterclass
A one-day international program for high school seniors with a strong interest in physics, held at host research institutions, combining lectures on particle astrophysics with hands-on analysis of real data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole and a virtual session connecting with student groups at other host sites worldwide.
iCLEM (Introductory College Level Experience in Microbiology)
6-8 week paid biotech internship in Emeryville labs, heavy wet-lab work (chemistry + microbiology + biofuels); very selective and supports low-income students.
International / USA Brain Bee
Live Q&A neuroscience competition for high schoolers testing knowledge of the brain, neuroanatomy, histology, MRI, and patient-diagnosis skills, running through local, regional, national, and international levels.
International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC)
A free citizen-science program in which student teams analyze real telescope imaging data using Astrometrica software to search for and report new asteroids. Month-long campaigns run several times a year and student discoveries can result in official credit and provisional asteroid designations.
International BioGENEius Challenge
The most prestigious high school biotech research competition, entered via 13 state partner competitions or an At-Large virtual track with original research in drug discovery, genetic engineering, or environmental sustainability.
International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL) - U.S. Teams
One of the 12 International Science Olympiads, with the U.S. sending two four-student teams selected via top NACLO performance to compete in individual and team analytical linguistics contests.
International Neuroscience Olympiad (INO)
Global brain-science competition using exams, events, and collaborative learning to make neuroscience accessible to students worldwide.
Iowa Lyceum
Free week-long virtual philosophy camp from the University of Iowa.
Irish Weather Rescue
Zooniverse citizen-science project run by Met Éireann (Ireland's national meteorological service) with the Adler Planetarium, University of Minnesota, and University of Oxford. Volunteers transcribe handwritten historical rainfall ledgers online to digitize over 3.5 million observations and help reconstruct Ireland's historical climate record.
JA All About Cars
A single-session Junior Achievement of Northern California learning experience that teaches high schoolers to be smart consumers when purchasing a first car, covering true ownership costs, financing versus leasing, and evaluating whether a dream car fits their budget.
JA Career Success
A Junior Achievement of Northern California learning experience in which high school students act as interns in a simulated company, Orbit Boom, rotating through departments to practice workplace skills like goal-setting, collaboration, and problem-solving.
JA Job Shadow
A Junior Achievement of Northern California experience that uses design-thinking activities to help high schoolers explore career paths and connect with local business professionals, culminating in a self-designed individualized career plan.
JA Marketing Principles 1
A one-semester Junior Achievement of Northern California course introducing high schoolers to marketing fundamentals through guest speakers, coaching, and project-based case studies; the course has received UC A-G articulation approval.
JA Personal Finance
A Junior Achievement of Northern California course covering earning, budgeting, saving, credit, debt, and investing across eight core sessions plus three optional modules, helping high schoolers connect today's financial decisions to their future financial well-being.
JBEI iCLEM (Introductory College Level Experience in Microbiology)
Held at the Joint BioEnergy Institute in Emeryville. Focuses on synthetic biology and microbial genetics. Paid stipend provided.
JBEI iCLEM Program (Berkeley Lab)
Paid summer microbiology/biotechnology intensive for underrepresented students featuring hands-on biofuels research with a $3,000 stipend.
Jefferson Lab High School Summer Honors Program
A paid six-week research internship at Jefferson Lab where local high schoolers conduct mentored physics and engineering research alongside lab scientists.
John Muir Health Young Healers High School Internship Program
A job-shadowing and career-exploration internship for high school juniors and seniors from partner Contra Costa school districts, offered as a 6-week spring session or 2-week summer session at John Muir Health facilities.
Johns Hopkins Internship in Brain Science (JHIBS)
An eight-week Johns Hopkins summer internship placing high schoolers in neuroscience labs to work on projects related to brain imaging and neurological disease under faculty and postdoc mentorship.
Johns Hopkins Summer Academic Research Experience (SARE)
An eight-week paid biomedical research internship at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine designed for high schoolers from low-income and under-resourced backgrounds, combining lab research with coursework in scientific writing, data analysis, and bioethics.
JSHS (Junior Science & Humanities Symposium) - NorCal
Research presentation competition. You must submit an original neuroscience research paper to compete.
JTA Teen Journalism Fellowship
A free, remote fellowship from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency for U.S. Jewish high schoolers ages 15-18 to pitch and report a 750-1,000 word article examining their community through a Jewish teen lens, with training and virtual mentorship meetings.
Junior Science & Humanities Symposium (JSHS) - Northern California
Research paper competition at SF State where top presenters win scholarships and advance to nationals.
Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS) - Northern California Region
Selective research paper and presentation competition; NorCal regional winners advance to nationals; strong chemistry category.
Kaiser Permanente KP LAUNCH
Paid summer internship. You must apply to the "Laboratory" or "Research" tracks to get exposure to medical genetics/pathology.
KALW Teen Podcasting Institute
KALW public radio's Teen Podcasting Institute is a paid summer fellowship where San Francisco Bay Area high school students learn reporting, interviewing, scriptwriting, and audio production to create episodes of 'tbh: by, about, and for teenagers,' a podcast broadcast on KALW. Fellows attend in-person workshops at KALW's San Francisco studio four days a week over six weeks and receive a stipend.
KIDS FIRST! Youth Film Critics Team
A national program where kids and teens who love film join KIDS FIRST!'s film critics team to write reviews and produce on-camera video critiques of children's and family entertainment, with their reviews and ratings published on the organization's platforms.
L.A. Times High School Insider
CA students get their own WordPress account to publish under the LA Times banner.
LA Conservation Corps — Clean & Green
Paid crew-based program where LA teens do community beautification: tree/garden maintenance, graffiti removal, and recycling collection, building job and environmental-stewardship skills.
Ladder Internships
Tech internship matching platform connecting high school students with Bay Area startups for data science and analytics roles.
Las Cumbres Observatory – 100 Global High School Teams
A Las Cumbres Observatory education program that gives high school student teams free access to LCO's global network of 0.4-meter robotic telescopes to observe galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters, with online training in astronomical data-analysis tools such as SalsaJ and TopCAT.
Lawrence Berkeley Lab - Experiences in Research (EinR)
A 6-week paid summer internship at Berkeley Lab where students work on cutting-edge STEM projects alongside expert mentors, earning $500/week.
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab - Experiences in Research (EinR)
6-week, selective internship placing students in LBNL research groups (chemistry, materials, energy, etc.) with a weekly stipend.
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab High School Internship
Paid summer research internship at Berkeley Lab. CS students work on data analysis, machine learning for scientific computing, and visualization.
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab: Experiences in Research
Paid 6-week internship for Northern CA students on data science/computational research.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory - High School Internship
Summer research internship at Berkeley Lab; projects in physics, materials science, and computation.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory - Biotech Summer Experience
Two-week intensive biotech/experimental biology program with substantial lab work and molecular techniques, drawing on chemistry fundamentals.
Leadership in Civic Engagement – Monterey County Elections High School Summer Internship
Week-long summer internship at the Monterey County Elections Department. Students receive professional training, learn about election administration and civic engagement, and design youth outreach activities.
LegiSchool Civics Virtual Institute (Sacramento State & California State Legislature)
Four-week online summer institute for California high school students exploring state policy issues and the three branches of government. Includes discussions with officials, research on CA policy, and professional skills workshops; students receive a stipend upon completion.
Lily McKee High School Fellowship (Folger Shakespeare Library)
A spring fellowship for DC-metro-area high school students to conduct original literary research at the Folger Shakespeare Library, using its rare books, manuscripts, and digital collections under guidance from Folger scholars, centered on a different Shakespeare play each year.
LiMPETS Citizen Science Program
CA program monitoring rocky intertidal/sandy beach ecosystems with real conservation data.
LINC Summer High School Program — SEJI (Science & Environmental Justice Intensive)
3-week intensive where SF Bay Area teens study environmental justice and climate science at a Marin County field station and in San Francisco, earning a completion stipend.
LINC Summer High School Program — SOL (Summer of Outdoor Leadership)
6-week paid summer program where Bay Area teens build outdoor leadership and environmental education skills across Golden Gate National Parks sites.
LLNL Biotechnology Summer Experience
A free two-week program engaging students in an authentic molecular-biology/bioinformatics research project isolating, characterizing, and sequencing duckweed genes.
Local Summer Archaeological Field School (Foothill College)
Free 10-day field school teaching survey/excavation at Clear Lake, CA sites.
Lockheed Martin High School Internship Program
A paid 9+ week summer internship at Lockheed Martin Space's Sunnyvale, CA facility where students at least 16 years old work alongside aerospace scientists and engineers on real projects, plus mentoring, professional development workshops, and facility tours; applications open November through early January.
LSU Virtual Math Circle
A virtual research-oriented course where high schoolers study material beyond the standard curriculum with a research focus.
Manovill Seminar (JFCS Holocaust Center of San Francisco)
A high school seminar run by the JFCS Holocaust Center in San Francisco that examines the Holocaust and the Cambodian genocide, exploring patterns of genocide, Jewish identity, and antisemitism through survivor testimony, archival research, and guided discussion. Students complete a culminating project applying seminar themes and can continue into the Center's Conversation Circle, meeting Holocaust survivors directly through the William J. Lowenberg Speakers Bureau.
Marine Science Careers + Internship Academy
Weeklong (and multi-week) academy where teens explore intertidal ecology, animal husbandry, lab investigations, and shipboard research aboard Ocean Institute vessels.
Mayo Clinic HERO (Healthcare Experience and Research in Oncology)
A two-week virtual Mayo Clinic program where Midwest high school students collaborate with peers on a genetics-based cancer research project and a patient case study to explore oncology and clinical care.
MediaWise Teen Creator Network (Poynter)
A free virtual newsroom run by the Poynter Institute where teens ages 13-20 research and produce social-media fact-checks and media-literacy content for platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube; it evolved in 2026 from the original Teen Fact-Checking Network.
MGH Youth Neurology Education and Research Program (YNERP)
A paid summer research internship at Massachusetts General Hospital's Department of Neurology, pairing high schoolers with neurologist mentors on projects in brain imaging, cognitive neuroscience, and neurological disorders. Open only to students living or studying in Massachusetts.
MIT Beaver Works Summer Institute – Serious Games Development with AI
A selective four-week in-person MIT summer program (following an online prerequisite) where high school students with Python proficiency build an AI-driven disease-outbreak simulation game, learning software development practices, UI design, and AI's role in game mechanics.
MIT Beaver Works Summer Institute (BWSI)
Prestigious 4-week STEM program at MIT with courses in AI, cybersecurity, autonomous vehicles, and quantum computing. Requires online prerequisite courses.
MIT PRIMES-USA
A free, year-long remote mentored research program from MIT's math department in which high school juniors and sophomores from outside the Boston area work on original, unsolved math problems with guidance from MIT researchers.
MIT Research Science Institute (RSI)
Extremely selective 6-week residential research program; many students do physics/astrophysics projects with mentors.
MOCA Teens
A paid, cohort-based program at the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles in which high school juniors and seniors learn about contemporary art and museum work by collaborating on projects with artists, planning public teen events, and meeting museum professionals.
Mosaic Journalism Workshop
Mosaic is a free youth journalism training program based at San Jose State University serving greater San Jose area high school and community college students. It runs an intensive two-week summer workshop covering reporting, writing, photography, videography, and podcasting, plus paid fall/spring internships and boot camps for student newspaper staff.
Mountain Rain or Snow
NASA- and Desert Research Institute-backed citizen science project (started as Tahoe Rain or Snow) where volunteers text or use a web app during winter storms to report whether precipitation is rain, snow, or a mix, helping researchers improve mountain precipitation forecasting models used across the Sierra Nevada and other US mountain regions.
MSEFCU Student-Run Branches (Merced, CA)
Merced School Employees Federal Credit Union operates student-staffed teller branches inside four Merced-area high schools, where enrolled students ages 14-17 handle real deposits, withdrawals, transfers, and loan payments under supervision while creating financial-education social media content.
MSK HOPP Summer Student Program
A highly selective eight-week paid lab internship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center for NYC-area high school juniors, where students conduct an independent, mentor-supported cancer research project in a translational oncology lab.
MSU Denver Art + Action Lab High School Internship
Paid internship at MSU Denver's Center for Visual Art that gives Denver-area high school students an inside look at careers across the arts (curation, installation, programming, education) through hands-on work alongside professional museum staff.
MTC Bay Area High School Internship Program
A paid summer internship placing Bay Area high schoolers with regional transportation, city planning, and public works agencies across nine counties, where students gain hands-on experience in transportation and urban planning and present a capstone project.
NABJ JSHOP (High School Journalism Workshop)
Free multi-day workshop at NABJ's annual convention city with professional mentors.
NASA Ames (Moffett Field) - OSTEM High School Internships
Competitive NASA internships in research areas including materials and atmospheric science, which are chemistry-heavy; located in Silicon Valley.
NASA L'SPACE Mission Concept Academy (MCA)
Virtual 15-week program where students work in teams to develop mission concepts for NASA. Focuses on systems engineering, project management, and technical design.
NASA Office of STEM Engagement (OSTEM) Internships
Paid internships across NASA centers (incl. JPL, Ames in CA) on engineering/aerospace projects.
NASA SEES (STEM Enhancement in Earth Science)
A competitive NASA-affiliated internship hosted by UT Austin's Center for Space Research for high school sophomores and juniors, combining online coursework with a two-week on-site research experience analyzing NASA satellite and mission data.
NASA SEES (STEM Enhancement in Earth Science) Internship
Free virtual NASA internship where students use real NASA satellite data and computational tools to study Earth science phenomena.
National Academy Foundation – Academy of Finance
Career academy within participating high schools teaching finance, banking, and entrepreneurship, requiring an 80+ hour internship and earning NAFTrack Certification.
Native Biodiversity Corps (NBC)
High schoolers throughout San Diego design and implement native-wildlife gardens on their home campuses, gaining inquiry- and critical-thinking skills through nature-based fieldwork.
Naturalists in Training
HS interns train in science communication and conservation, then engage Museum visitors through interpretive activities and independent natural-history projects.
NCAR Pre-College Internship Program (PRECIP)
Six-week summer internship at the NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado where high school students work on real research projects in atmospheric, climate, and earth-system science with scientists, plus workshops on writing scientific abstracts. Out-of-area students must have a parent/guardian/chaperone with them for the duration.
NEURO-RocHS
A paid six-week neuroscience research program pairing Rochester high schoolers with University of Rochester Del Monte Institute lab mentors for hands-on research and career-pathway exposure. Currently limited to Rochester City School District partner schools.
News Decoder
A global nonprofit journalism education platform where students draft, revise, and publish news and opinion stories with mentorship from professional journalists through its 'Get Published' pipeline, plus a 'Youth Voices' section showcasing student work and contest winners.
NexGeneGirls
A San Francisco (Bayview Hunters Point)-based nonprofit offering hands-on biotech bootcamps and paid internships for high school girls of color from underserved SF neighborhoods, teaching lab techniques like pipetting, DNA extraction, and cloning with mentorship from CCSF and SFSU scientists.
NextGen High School Internship Program (Emory Human Genetics)
A paid summer internship in Emory University's Department of Human Genetics for rising high school juniors and seniors age 16+, combining foundational lectures with lab and clinical rotations to expose students from diverse backgrounds to genetics and biomedical careers.
NIH Summer Internship Program (SIP)
A paid summer research internship placing graduating high school seniors and older students directly in NIH labs across the country, working alongside NIH scientists on biomedical, behavioral, or clinical research projects.
NIST Summer High School Internship Program (SHIP)
Prestigious federal research internship where high school juniors/seniors near NIST's Boulder, CO or Gaithersburg, MD campuses conduct hands-on chemistry research.
Non-Trivial Research Fellows
An 8-week online summer research fellowship for students ages 14-20 to develop an original research or policy project on high-impact issues including AI safety, with $1,000 in project grants available and no program fees; one of the most selective teen programs by application volume.
Non-Trivial Research Scholars
The advanced tier of Non-Trivial's research pathway, offering high-achieving students ages 14-20 ongoing custom mentorship, publication support, and career guidance, with top projects earning up to $10,000 and other Scholars receiving at least $2,000.
Norman Mineta Bay Area High School Summer Academy (MTC / ABAG)
Paid regional program introducing Bay Area high school students to public sector careers in transportation, planning, and regional policy (e.g., housing, climate). Legally more "public policy / urban governance" than pure civics, but very political science adjacent.
Northern California Public Media (KRCB) Student Internship Program
NorCal Public Media, operator of public TV/radio station KRCB, offers a paid internship for high school, technical school, and college students interested in news, journalism, digital media, and environmental storytelling, providing hands-on newsroom and production experience.
NSA Stokes Educational Scholarship Program
A competitive scholarship with summer internships for U.S. high school juniors intending to study cyber, computer science, engineering, or math. Covers full tuition plus stipend and requires service commitment after college. Includes NSA internships in later summers.
NYU Langone High School Bioethics Project Internship
An NYU Langone Medical Ethics internship where high schoolers work with faculty on real bioethics issues like genetic testing, transplant ethics, and clinical consent, producing case studies and lesson materials.
Pathways to Health Careers Academy (Charles R. Drew University)
Year-long LA pipeline program starting with a 4-week summer academy plus community internship.
PBS News Student Reporting Labs Summer Academy
Free, all-expenses-paid week near D.C. reporting real community stories with PBS/WETA mentors.
PG&E Powering Scholars Program
An in-person day program at PG&E's Oakland headquarters where up to 40 students in grades 10-11 from Bay Area counties spend two weeks in hands-on energy explorations, field trips to local energy sites, and networking with PG&E professionals, earning a $500 stipend and an iPad upon completion.
Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology Volunteer & Internship Program
Volunteer and internship placements at UC Berkeley's Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology supporting exhibitions, education and public programs, conservation, registration, and collections management under staff supervision; open to Bay Area community members, with capacity currently limited.
Placer County Criminal Justice Pathways Summer Workshop
A District Attorney's Office program that introduces Placer County high schoolers to the criminal justice system through presentations, tours of the Santucci Justice Center, and hands-on activities with prosecutors and investigators.
Planet Hunters TESS (Zooniverse)
A free online citizen-science project where volunteers examine light-curve data from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) to help identify signals of possible exoplanets. Participant identifications have contributed to real peer-reviewed exoplanet discoveries, and an educator guide supports classroom or independent use.
Political Science Internships for High School Students in California – Ladder Internships Guide
Article compiling 15 real political internships in California (e.g., USC Center for the Political Future, state legislative offices, local government programs). Many are exactly the kind of public policy placements you're looking for.
Project Pull – San Francisco Paid Summer Government Internship
Paid summer internship for SF high school and college students in city departments. Many placements relate to public policy, community engagement, city planning, or legislative work.
Project SEED Summer Research Program (CS Track)
ACS-sponsored paid summer research program for economically disadvantaged students. Some labs focus on computational chemistry and bioinformatics.
Project TRUE (Wildlife Conservation Society / Fordham University)
A paid summer and fall urban ecology research internship at the Bronx Zoo where NYC high school sophomores and juniors conduct field research alongside Wildlife Conservation Society scientists and Fordham University students.
Public Health Solutions (PHS) - Contra Costa Health
A training-and-internship model run by Contra Costa Health that teaches youth ages 14-19 from underserved communities the principles of public health, social determinants of health, and health equity, with successful completers matched to paid public health internships.
Pulsar Science Collaboratory (NANOGrav)
An out-of-school-time citizen-science research program in which students age 13 and up receive training and then analyze real radio-astronomy data from the Green Bank and Arecibo-affiliated telescopes to search for new pulsars; several student participants have been credited as co-discoverers of real pulsars.
Quarknet - Cosmic Ray Studies
National program connecting HS teachers and students with particle physics researchers; includes cosmic ray detector projects.
Radio Bilingüe – Alza tu Voz / Speak Out Youth Radio Program
A free youth radio production training program based in Salinas, California, where teens learn basic radio production and produce a weekly bilingual music and talk show broadcast live on KHDC 90.9 FM to Monterey and Santa Cruz counties.
ReData
Zooniverse citizen-science project led by the Meteonetwork Association with the University of Milan and Politecnico di Milano to digitize historical Italian meteorological data (1879-1940) from the former Royal Central Meteorological Office archives, creating an open dataset for climate research.
Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF)
The world's largest pre-college science competition; qualify through affiliated regional/state fairs with over $9 million in awards.
Regeneron Science Talent Search
America's oldest and most prestigious science competition for high school seniors, offering up to $250,000 in top prizes for original research.
Regeneron Science Talent Search (Physics Projects)
Prestigious national competition where students submit original research; many winners do physics/astrophysics projects.
Regeneron Science Talent Search (STS)
Widely considered the top U.S. science research competition for high school seniors; requires a completed original research paper, including chem/biochem.
Regeneron STS / ISEF (Computer Science Category)
Nation's most prestigious pre-college science competitions with dedicated computer science categories for original research projects.
Research Mentorship Program (RMP)
Six-week university-level summer research program pairing top HS students with UCSB faculty/grad mentors across disciplines, including environmental science and environmental policy.
Research Science Institute (RSI)
Free, fully-funded six-week MIT research program with mentors across all fields including cognitive/behavioral science.
Richmond Pulse Youth Voices
A Richmond, California community journalism program that trains young people in multimedia reporting and storytelling as youth reporters for the local outlet Richmond Pulse, with participants paid for their published work.
RJOY Youth Internship Program
A paid restorative-justice internship in Oakland for ages 15-19. Interns learn to facilitate community-building circles and develop leadership, public speaking, and life-planning skills over a 10-week cohort that meets three afternoons a week, including an overnight trip to RJOY's Ubuntu Healing Farm.
Rockefeller University Summer Science Research Program (SSRP)
An ultra-selective, tuition-free seven-week research program where NY/NJ/CT high school juniors and seniors join lab teams at Rockefeller University, Memorial Sloan Kettering, and Weill Cornell for hands-on biomedical research under scientist mentors.
RSI - Research Science Institute (MIT)
One of the most selective global research programs; 6-week residential at MIT with original research in many fields including chemistry.
Rubin Comet Catchers (Zooniverse)
A Zooniverse citizen-science project launched in 2025 in which volunteers examine images from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space and Time to spot comets and active asteroids showing tails or comae, helping scientists understand how planetary systems, including our own, formed and evolved.
Sacramento County DA Criminal Justice Youth Shadow Day
A one-day job-shadowing event held by the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office where current or incoming Sacramento County high schoolers are paired with prosecutors, defense attorneys, probation officers, investigators, and judges to see the criminal justice system firsthand.
Salk Institute Heithoff-Brody High School Summer Scholars
A prestigious, paid eight-week internship at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies where high schoolers work one-on-one with Salk scientists, including in neuroscience labs, on original research. Open to San Diego County residents.
San Diego Natural History Museum High School Internship
School-credit internship rotating through Paleontology, Entomology, and Botany departments.
San Francisco Historical Society Internship
SFHS internship roles for high school students to support the Museum of San Francisco, archives, and educational programming.
Sandia National Laboratories High School Internships - Livermore
Highly selective paid internships in engineering, physics, chemistry and related fields at Sandia's California site.
Save Ancient Studies Alliance Mentoring Team Internship
Remote unpaid internship mentoring younger students interested in ancient studies/archaeology.
SCA Bay Area Urban Green
Paid, after-school/weekend conservation jobs for Bay Area high schoolers restoring parks and green spaces across Vallejo, Oakland, Hayward, SF, and the Peninsula.
Scripps Research Alcohol Research Center – HS Mentorship Program
A neuroscience-focused mentorship program offering both a virtual Summer Journal Club and an in-person lab research track exploring how alcohol and drugs affect the brain.
Seattle Children's Research Institute Research Training Program
Free, paid four-week lab immersion for Seattle-area 10th/11th graders covering biochemistry, immunotherapy, gene editing, and infectious disease research.
Senator Ben Allen High School Internship Program
A California State Senate district-office internship for high school students in Senator Ben Allen's office, giving interns direct exposure to constituent services and the legislative process; the Spring 2026 cycle ran through the office's El Segundo district office.
SF Bay Area Urban Green SCA
SCA's Bay Area Urban Green program provides year-round paid opportunities for high school students to work on urban environmental projects, some involving historic sites.
SF YouthWorks – Paid City Government Internships
Paid part‑time internships for high school students in San Francisco city departments with job‑readiness workshops, mentoring, and a Youth Leadership Team for returning interns.
SFFILM Youth FilmHouse Residency
Bay Area BIPOC students attend a biweekly Saturday residency learning production and filmmaking technique from industry professionals over a full academic year.
SFMOMA Paid Summer Internships
Paid summer internships at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art across departments like education, curatorial, and design; some roles suitable for older teens close to graduation.
Simons Summer Research Program
A highly selective six-week residential research program at Stony Brook University pairing rising high school seniors with faculty mentors for hands-on original research in science, math, or engineering, culminating in a poster symposium.
Simons Summer Research Program (Stony Brook)
Free 7-week program pairing juniors with faculty mentors across science/engineering, including Physics & Astronomy.
SIMR - Bioengineering Track
8-week paid internship. The Bioengineering/Bioinformatics track is heavy on computational modeling of biological data.
SIREN Youth Leadership Internship
A paid year-long internship with SIREN (Services, Immigrant Rights, and Education Network) in which youth ages 16-25 organize alongside immigrant and refugee communities in the Bay Area (San Jose) or Central Valley (Fresno), building leadership and community-organizing skills. Interns support SIREN's Youth Leadership Institute programming and civic engagement campaigns.
SKILLS (School Kids Investigating Language in Life and Society) – UCSB
A social-justice-centered linguistics outreach program run by UC Santa Barbara faculty and graduate students in partnership with Santa Barbara County high schools, where students conduct original linguistic research and language-activism projects in their own communities over a 20-week curriculum.
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory Summer Internship
Paid research internship at Stanford's SLAC for HS students interested in particle physics and accelerator science.
Smithsonian NMNH Summer High School Internship Program
A paid summer internship at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History where students ages 15-18 work 24 hours a week on museum projects, go behind the scenes, and explore both science and non-science museum careers.
SMUD High School Internship Program
A paid six-week summer internship with the Sacramento Municipal Utility District for juniors and seniors (2.5+ GPA) attending schools in SMUD's rotating service-area districts, offering placements including engineering alongside IT, vehicle mechanics, and other utility career tracks at 36 hours per week.
Southern Exposure (SoEx) Internships
Internships in a nonprofit visual arts organization supporting exhibitions, education, and community art projects; strong exposure to curatorial and gallery operations.
Speaker of the Assembly – District Office Student Internship Program (California)
Unpaid internship in a California State Assembly district office, performing constituent services, legislative research, event support, and community outreach—excellent direct exposure to state politics.
SPICE – Summer Program in Computational Psychiatry Education
A free eight-week NYC program at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai introducing high schoolers, especially from underrepresented STEM backgrounds, to computational psychiatry and neuroscience research.
St. Jude High School Research Immersion Program
A paid eight-week summer research program at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital for Memphis-area rising seniors, who pair with a mentor on a lab, epidemiology, clinical, or data-science project related to childhood cancer.
Stanford Chemistry IFSS Summer Research
Intensive 8-week research program where high school students work in Stanford chemistry labs on cutting-edge research projects with graduate student mentors.
Stanford GRIPS (Genomics Research Internship Program)
The "Gold Standard" for high school genetics. You work in a lab for 8 weeks on computational genetics and genomics projects.
Stanford Institutes of Medicine Summer Research Program (SIMR)
8-week full-time biomedical/chem research internship with Stanford faculty; extremely competitive, strong track record for top colleges.
Stanford K-12 Programs – Quantitative/Data Components
Directory of multiple Stanford K-12 programs including summer research and internships with quantitative and data science components for high school students.
Stanford K-12 Programs with Quantitative Components
Directory of multiple Stanford K-12 programs including summer research and internships with quantitative and data science components for high school students.
Stanford SIMR - Neurobiology Track
You must select the "Neurobiology" institute on your application. This matches you with a faculty mentor for 8 weeks of hands-on research. Extremely competitive (<5% acceptance).
Stanford Young Investigators Program
Summer research program at Stanford where high school students work with faculty on economics and social science research projects.
STARS at Cold Spring Harbor
While based in NY, they offer virtual bioinformatics training where you use algorithms to analyze DNA sequences.
Stockholm Junior Water Prize (US/CA)
Students conduct an original water-related research project, competing through state and national judging; the US winner receives a cash prize and represents the US at the international finals in Sweden.
Student Historian Internship Program – New-York Historical
A paid academic-year internship for high school students entering grades 10-12 in the NYC metro area, who conduct original historical research using New-York Historical's archives, produce a digital project, and lead gallery tours under historian mentors.
Student Voice Journalism Fellowship
A free, yearlong national fellowship for U.S. high schoolers -- especially those without access to a school newspaper -- to build education-justice reporting skills across print, podcast, photo essay, and video formats, with published work appearing in Student Voice's Schooled magazine and outlets like The Washington Post and Teen Vogue.
Synopsys Championship (Santa Clara Valley Science & Engineering Fair)
Students design and present independent research projects in categories including Environmental Science at this regional fair for Santa Clara County middle/high schoolers.
Tar Teens Internship (La Brea Tar Pits / NHMLAC)
Tar Teens is a paid internship for high school juniors and seniors who live in or attend school in Boyle Heights or Hancock Park, run by the Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County at La Brea Tar Pits. Interns develop and present an original paleoscience project to museum visitors while gaining hands-on exposure to fossil research, collections, and public science communication across a spring-into-summer program.
Tech companies - High School Intern Programs
Companies like Microsoft, Google, Meta, and Amazon offer select high school internship programs. Extremely competitive but provide real-world software engineering experience.
The Jackson Laboratory (JAX)
Famous for mouse genetics. They occasionally offer virtual high school programs or remote bioinformatics internships.
The Nature Conservancy LEAF Program
Paid summer conservation internships for urban high school students, offering hands-on stewardship work and career exposure with The Nature Conservancy at sites across the country.
Touro University California High School Summer Program
6-week hybrid program for Northern CA students exploring healthcare careers; earns college credit.
Turn Up Youth Activism – Remote Internship
Remote civic-engagement internship doing voter registration, advocacy, social-media campaigns, and organizing.
UC Davis Department of Anthropology Museum Outreach Program
UC Davis's Anthropology Museum invites elementary and high school students, especially from the greater Sacramento area, for group visits, private viewings of its artifact collections, and introductions to anthropology; the department also offers a hands-on museum internship for interested students.
UC Davis Health Summer VolunTEEN Program
An 8-week summer volunteer program (6-week minimum commitment) placing high school students in UC Davis Health hospital and outpatient departments such as Patient Transportation, Radiology, and Neuroscience Specialties to explore healthcare careers.
UCLA Brain Research Institute – CELL Scholars
A paid, school-year research position at UCLA for high school juniors and seniors from underrepresented backgrounds, working in UCLA labs, including neuroscience, with graduate mentors on technical and coding skills.
UCLA BrainSPORT Summer High School Internship
An in-person clinical research internship with pediatric neurologist Dr. Christopher Giza's team, where students assist with concussion and traumatic brain injury research through neuroimaging, cognitive testing, and patient recruitment.
UCLA Neuroscience High School Scholars Program
A free UCLA program (Easton Center for Alzheimer's Research and Care) with virtual "Grand Rounds" seminars, an Alzheimer's-awareness peer club, and a selective Virtual Summer Program pairing students with mentored research.
UCSF AI4ALL
10-week SF-based summer research internship applying AI to biomedical research.
UCSF Fresno / SJV PRIME Summer Biomedical Internship (SBI)
A free 6-7 week summer research internship for Central San Joaquin Valley high school juniors, pairing students with faculty mentors at Fresno-area hospitals, clinics, and Fresno State for independent research culminating in a project presentation.
UCSF Fresno Doctors Academy & Junior Doctors Academy
A multi-week summer healthcare career-exploration program run by UCSF Fresno for Central Valley high school seniors from partner school districts, combining mentorship from health professionals, hospital and clinic shadowing at VA and community facilities, and personal-development workshops.
UCSF High School Intern Program (HIP)
Selective 8-week program at UCSF labs via Science & Health Education Partnership; includes bench research and seminars.
UCSF High School Intern Program (SEP)
Paid 8-week SF summer internship conducting original biomedical/health research.
UCSF PITCH Program
A three-week summer immersive program (Program for the Investigation and Training in Careers in Health) for first-generation and low-income rising 10th and 11th graders, pairing them with UCSF mentors to investigate health issues and present at a closing health symposium.
UCSF Science & Health Education Partnership High School Intern Program (HIP)
An 8-week paid summer research internship for SFUSD high school juniors, matching each student with a UCSF scientist mentor to conduct an original biomedical research project, plus college-counseling workshops and professional development.
UCSF SEP High School Intern Program
A highly competitive 8-week paid internship. You are placed in a UCSF research lab. Approximately 30-40% of placements are in Neuroscience or Neurology departments.
UCSF Summer Research Experiences in Neuroscience (SREN)
Specifically for students underrepresented in the sciences to gain authentic research experience in UCSF neuroscience labs.
UCSF Summer Student Research Program
Formerly CHORI, this is a rigorous 9-week program in Oakland. It focuses heavily on biomedical research, including genetic diseases (e.g., sickle cell, thalassemia).
United States Senate Page Program
A highly selective program in which junior-year high schoolers, sponsored and appointed by a U.S. senator, work full-time delivering documents and assisting with Senate floor operations in the Capitol while attending an accredited early-morning school.
University at Albany RNA Institute High School Bioinformatics Summer Camp
A competitive virtual camp training students to analyze RNA-sequencing data through live lectures and mentorship, with an independent bioinformatics project based in neurodegenerative-disease research.
University of Michigan BioMed Focus
An eight-week paid biomedical research internship at Michigan Medicine for Michigan high school juniors and seniors, combining full-time lab research with science-communication training and college-prep support.
Urban Barcode Research Program (UBRP)
A Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory DNA Learning Center mentorship program where NYC-area high schoolers use DNA barcoding lab techniques to study local biodiversity over the school year, presenting their findings at a research symposium.
USC Bridge Institute BUGS Jr. Program
Paid summer research program pairing high schoolers with USC faculty labs across biological disciplines, culminating in a poster symposium.
USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future High School Summer Internship
A fully virtual USC summer research internship in which competitively selected high schoolers analyze environmental and sustainability legislation, attend speaker sessions, and produce a published policy assignment.
USGS Volunteer for Science Program
Federal volunteer program placing supervised volunteers directly on USGS research projects.
Van Andel Institute High School Graduate Research Program
8-week paid research experience for recent Grand Rapids-area high school graduates working in Van Andel Institute labs spanning genetics, epigenetics, and molecular biology.
Vanderbilt Aspirnaut Summer Research Internship
A six-week residential biomedical research internship at Vanderbilt University Medical Center for high schoolers nationwide, who work full-time in a lab on projects ranging from kidney disease to cancer alongside paid room, board, and stipend.
Vanderbilt Research Experience for High School Students (REHSS)
A six-week immersive research internship that embeds rising seniors full-time in a Vanderbilt University or Vanderbilt University Medical Center research lab under a faculty mentor.
Veterans History Project (Library of Congress)
A Library of Congress American Folklife Center program that collects and preserves firsthand veteran narratives, with students in grade 10+ conducting and submitting oral-history interviews with veterans.
Vindolanda Trust Work Experience Placement
A structured work-experience placement for students aged 16-17 at the Vindolanda Trust's Roman Army Museum and Vindolanda Fort and Museum in Northumberland, England, including hands-on excavation assistance, post-excavation and artifact preservation work, and a final project, with opportunities to observe live digs.
Waksman Student Scholars Program (Rutgers)
A year-long program at Rutgers University in which high school students and their teachers conduct authentic genomic sequence analysis research on the duckweed species Landoltia punctata, beginning with a summer institute and continuing as a class or club project through the school year.
Weather Archive Africa (Zooniverse Citizen Science)
A virtual citizen-science project where volunteers help digitize and quality-check historical African weather station records from paper archives, supporting climate change research across 43 African countries. Students transcribe station names, dates, and readings, and flag damaged documents.
WPI Bioinformatics & Computational Biology (BCB) Summer Research Experience
A program where high schoolers apply math and CS to biological/medical problems through lectures, journal clubs, and lab work.
Yale Neuroscience Summer Scholars (YNSS)
An eight-week summer program covering neuroscience, neurodegeneration, and neuroinflammation, with didactic education, lab-technique training, and a supervised research project for New Haven Public Schools students.
Yale YCAS Young Scholars Program in Biostatistics and Clinical Research
An intensive two-week Yale School of Public Health summer program where Connecticut high schoolers strong in math learn biostatistics and R programming by analyzing real health science data in teams.
YIS CYIA™ Designation Program
A highly selective credential from the Young Investors Society, earned by fewer than 10% of members, requiring completed coursework, a 3.0+ GPA, participation in a Stock Pitch Competition, a savings/investing challenge, a recommendation letter, community service hours, and a passing score on a quarterly 60-question timed exam based on investment analysis material.
Young Founders Lab – SF Economics Internships (real roles)
Compilation of specific, real San Francisco economics internships, many of which are paid.
Young Scientists Program (YSP)
Ocean-loving high schoolers conduct hands-on research projects in conjunction with the Aquarium's Aquatic Nursery, exploring marine biology through original investigation.
Youth Art Exchange – Teaching Assistant / Alumni Intern
Year-round or session-based paid roles where advanced teens assist teaching artists, support classes, and mentor younger students.
Youth Art Exchange (YAX) Summer Internship
Summer internship assisting teaching artists, supporting classes, and working with media like painting, collage, sculpture; strong focus on arts education and community engagement.
Youth for Human Rights International Essay Competition
An annual international essay competition open to students age 18 and under who study the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and write about "What Are Human Rights?", with standout essays featured on Human Rights Day.
Youth Leadership Institute: K-12 Behavioral Health Services Campaign
A statewide, three-year youth advocacy program in which teams across California counties (including Marin, San Mateo, and Sacramento) research and advocate for improvements to California's Behavioral Health Services Act, presenting findings to local and state legislators.
Youth Leadership Institute: Youth Alcohol Prevention Coalition (YAPC)
A 12-month San Francisco program in which youth leaders and adult allies design and implement underage-drinking prevention projects, including educational campaigns and peer outreach; applicants must be SF residents who have completed the CMCA curriculum.
Youth Radio (Oakland)
Oakland nonprofit training teens in journalism/audio storytelling, with paid pathway after training.
Youth Radio (YR Media)
Youth Radio is an Oakland, California nonprofit that trains young people ages 14-24 as journalists, podcast producers, and media makers, pairing them with professional editors to produce real published audio and media work. Relaunched in 2026 after a hiatus, the program requires no prior experience and centers youth voice on current events and culture.
Zero Robotics High School Program (Astrobee on ISS)
Robotics programming competition using real robots aboard the International Space Station, focused on autonomous behavior. Extremely strong prestige.
ECFinder provides links to outside extracurricular opportunities for informational purposes only. Students and families should research each program before applying. ECFinder does not operate or control the listed organizations and is not responsible for their actions or policies.