Internships for High School Sophomores 2026 | 10th Grade Programs

Internships let high schoolers test-drive a field, build professional skills, and earn references long before college. Even a few weeks of real work experience helps clarify your interests and strengthens an application narrative. Tenth grade is when you begin to narrow. Take on more responsibility in one or two activities, attempt a first summer program, and start developing a 'spike' — a focused area of strength.

Opportunities range from NIH and NASA programs to local startups, hospitals, law offices, and research labs; many are summer-based, and a growing number are remote.

Hands-on experience signals maturity and direction, and an internship often becomes the seed of an essay, a recommendation letter, or a long-term mentor relationship.

How to get started with internships

  1. Get concrete about the field and the kind of work you want — 'help a bio lab run assays' beats 'an internship somewhere.'
  2. Map your network first: teachers, family friends, alumni, and local businesses are the most reachable entry points.
  3. Apply early to structured summer programs (NIH, NASA, university labs) as your backbone while you email locally.
  4. Send a short, tailored pitch: who you are, one specific reason you want their work, and exactly how you'd help.
  5. Say yes to small, unglamorous tasks — reliability early turns a two-week trial into a real reference and mentor.

Featured programs

Browse 30+ curated programs for high school students:

  • Girls Who Invest Summer Intensive Program — Girls Who Invest: Highly selective free 4-week summer program placing high school girls and nonbinary students at top investment management firms for training in financ
  • Science Internship Program (SIP) at UC Santa Cruz — UC Santa Cruz: 8-week summer research internship. Students work in UCSC research labs. Competitive admission.
  • Mikva Challenge Summer Fellows — Mikva Challenge: Gain hands-on experience in government and civic leadership with this paid summer internship for grades 10-12. Build skills and strengthen your colleg
  • NASA Internships - High School — NASA: Gain hands-on STEM experience through a paid NASA internship. Perfect for high school students in grades 10-12 to boost college applications and build
  • BioBuilder Apprenticeship Challenge — BioBuilder Educational Foundation: Selective biotech internship and training for high school students in grades 10-12. Build real-world synthetic biology skills and boost college applic
  • AIMI Summer Research Internship — Stanford Center for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine & Imaging: Two-week fully virtual Stanford AIMI internship where high schoolers do mentored, small-team AI-in-healthcare research with lectures from Stanford exp
  • TurnUp Pre-College Program — TurnUp: Pre-college program at TurnUp for high school students focusing on youth activism remote internship.
  • Ladder Internships — Ladder Internships: Virtual internship program connecting high school students with startup and organizational work experiences.
  • Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation Internship — The Ronald Reagan Foundation: Internship at the Reagan Presidential Library focused on leadership, communication, and civic engagement.
  • Washington State Legislature Page Program — Washington State Legislature: Paid one-week page service in the Washington State House or Senate for students aged 14-16: floor duties, daily Page School on state government, and $
  • UPMC Hillman Cancer Center Academy — UPMC Hillman Cancer Center / University of Pittsburgh: Free 7-week summer research internship in Pittsburgh pairing high school students (15+) with University of Pittsburgh mentors for 30-35 hours a week o
  • Saturday Academy ASE Internships — Saturday Academy: Eight-week, full-time summer STEM research internships placing ~70 Oregon and SW Washington high schoolers with mentors at universities, research inst
  • Ted R. Lilley CURE Program — OHSU Knight Cancer Institute: Paid 8-week summer research internship ($4,000 stipend) at OHSU's Knight Cancer Institute for Oregon sophomores-seniors (16+) from disadvantaged backg
  • Mass General Brigham Youth Program — Mass General Brigham: Multi-year healthcare pipeline for 75 sophomores a year from Boston, Revere, and Chelsea: paid hospital internships during the school year and summer,
  • Secondary School Field Research Program (SSFRP) — Columbia University Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory: Free six-week summer program with stipends at Columbia's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory: NYC-area high school students join tiered research teams do
  • Forage Virtual Job Simulations — Forage: Free, self-paced virtual job simulations built with 125+ real employers - JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, BCG, Pfizer, KPMG - including high-school editions;
  • Expanding Horizons Institute — Teach Democracy: Paid summer internship program in Los Angeles for first-generation, college-bound 10th and 11th graders at Title I schools, placing students in law fi
  • Science for Success Teen Internship — Cleveland Museum of Natural History: Paid multi-year museum internship for Cleveland-area students starting as rising 9th graders: earn $11/hour with the Cleveland Museum of Natural Histo
  • Careers in Science (CiS) Intern Program — California Academy of Sciences: Multi-year, year-round paid internship at the California Academy of Sciences for San Francisco public school students from communities underrepresente
  • Boyce Thompson Institute High School Research Experience — Boyce Thompson Institute: Six-week paid summer research internship (~$4,200 stipend) in plant science and computational biology at the Boyce Thompson Institute on Cornell's cam
  • Youthcast Media Group Journalism Boot Camps and Workshops — Youthcast Media Group: Virtual journalism boot camps and reporting workshops where high schoolers nationwide cover health and safety issues with veteran-journalist mentors;
  • Youth Journalism International — Youth Journalism International: Free global online newsroom (since 1994) where students 19 and under report real stories with coaching from experienced editors, publish international
  • Cardiothoracic Surgical Skills and Education Summer Internship — Stanford Medicine Cardiothoracic Surgical Skills and Education Center: Stanford Medicine's two-week virtual surgical internship for high schoolers: morning lectures plus live-coached suturing, knot tying, and simulated ca
  • Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Internships — Smithsonian Institution: Smithsonian internships in folklife research, the Folklife Festival, Folkways Recordings, archives, and education - explicitly open to high school stu
  • Sandia National Laboratories High School Internships — Sandia National Laboratories: Paid year-round internships at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM for students 16+, working up to 25 hours/week during the school year in
  • Student Historian Internship Program — The New York Historical: School-year history internship at The New York Historical for students entering grades 10-12 in the NYC metro area; interns research museum collection
  • Michigan Science Center Explainers — Michigan Science Center: Paid year-long program hiring Detroit-area 10th-12th graders (about $13/hour, ~7 hours/week) to learn science-center operations and lead exhibit, stag
  • MediaWise Teen Fact-Checking Network — The Poynter Institute: Poynter MediaWise's virtual newsroom where US middle and high schoolers debunk viral misinformation, publishing fact-checks and 'Is This Legit?' media
  • CodeDay Labs Internship Program — CodeDay: Build real open-source software in this free virtual internship for high schoolers. Gain hands-on coding experience, boost college apps, and learn fro
  • Naval Research Enterprise SEAP — U.S. Department of the Navy & ASEE: Gain hands-on STEM experience in a paid summer program at Navy labs. Perfect for high schoolers in grades 10-12 to boost research skills and college a

Frequently asked questions

What should a sophomore focus on?

Deepen one or two activities, pursue a meaningful summer experience, and begin building leadership rather than collecting clubs.

Can high school students really get internships?

Yes, though many formal corporate internships have age limits. Smaller organizations, university labs, nonprofits, and structured summer programs are the most accessible entry points.

Are high school internships paid?

Some are (NIH and certain government and corporate programs), many are unpaid, and some are part of a paid summer program. Filter by cost below.

How do I find an internship with no experience?

Lead with curiosity: email local professionals, use school and family networks, and apply early to structured programs. Our internships guide walks through the process.