Paid Programs & Competitions for High School Students

Every program here pays YOU — stipends, hourly wages, or funded fellowships that cover costs and then some. Getting paid to do research or intern is a double win: real work experience plus proof that someone valued your output.

Paid seats are the scarcest kind (NIH SIP, Simons, SIMR, lab and industry internships), so treat the application like a job application: résumé tight, deadlines early, recommenders warned.

35 verified programs match this page; 30 of the featured listings are completely free.

Featured programs

Browse 30+ curated programs for high school students:

• Microsoft Discovery Program (High School Internship) — Microsoft: Paid summer internship offering hands-on computer science experience for high school juniors and seniors. Boost college applications while developing
• Clark Scholars Program — Texas Tech: Elite summer research program for high school juniors and seniors. Gain hands-on STEM experience, earn a $750 stipend, and boost your college applicat
• NIH Summer Internship Program — National Institutes of Health: Eight-week paid research internship at National Institutes of Health. Work alongside NIH scientists on biomedical research projects.
• Fred Hutch Summer High School Internship Program (SHIP) — Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center: Paid laboratory internships in cancer and biomedical research.
• Fermilab TARGET Summer Research Program — Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory: Summer research at America's premier particle physics laboratory. Work with world-class physicists on cutting-edge experiments. Paid internship.
• Garcia Summer Scholars Program — Stony Brook University: Residential research program at Stony Brook University.
• WCS High School Internship Program — Wildlife Conservation Society: Explore a paid summer internship at the Bronx Zoo or New York Aquarium! Gain hands-on biology and conservation experience to boost skills and strength
• 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
• 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 $
• Seed Crew — The Food Project: Paid six-and-a-half-week summer job for about 72 Massachusetts teens ages 14-17: grow and distribute thousands of pounds of produce on urban and subur
• 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
• Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) — National Park Service: Federal paid summer work program for youth 15-18 at national parks, forests, wildlife refuges, and fish hatcheries. Typically 8-10 weeks at minimum wa
• Student Urban Nature (SUN) High School Internship — Natural Areas Conservancy: Paid summer urban-ecology internship for NYC rising juniors and seniors in Queens and Staten Island: field data collection, forest and wetland ecology
• 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,
• PathMaker Scholars — Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah: 10-week residential summer research program at Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City for advanced high school seniors and undergraduates, with u
• Grow Dat Youth Farm Core Leadership Program — Grow Dat Youth Farm: Paid November-May job on a New Orleans sustainable farm for 48 crew members ages 15-21: grow and share food, plus workshops on farming, food systems,
• Genesys Works — Genesys Works: Free program that trains high school juniors for eight weeks in the summer, then places them in a paid year-long corporate internship during senior ye
• High School Explainer Program — Exploratorium: San Francisco's Exploratorium hires two cohorts of teens a year - over 130 paid positions - to run museum floor operations, lead demonstrations, and h
• 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
• Youth Mental Health Academy — Child Mind Institute: Paid 14-month mental health career academy for Los Angeles County juniors and seniors: a five-week summer academy (stipend up to $1,750), school-year
• 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
• Today's Teens, Tomorrow's Techies (T4) — Brooklyn Public Library: Brooklyn Public Library's teen tech volunteer corps: up to 80 teens ages 14-18 complete a two-week technology institute, then coach library patrons at
• Garden Apprentice Program — Brooklyn Botanic Garden: Brooklyn Botanic Garden's four-tier teen apprenticeship in urban agriculture and environmental education. Grades 9-11, no fee, nine-month commitment,
• St. Jude High School Research Immersion Program — St. Jude Children's Research Hospital: Eight-week paid summer research program ($4,800 stipend) at St. Jude in Memphis for rising seniors from the Memphis area and nearby TN/MS/AR counties,
• 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
• High School Scientific Training and Enrichment Program (HiSTEP) — National Institutes of Health: Five-week paid NIH summer program ($2,150 stipend) in Bethesda, MD for rising seniors from DC/MD/VA schools with 30%+ free-or-reduced-lunch enrollment
• 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
• Kitty Andersen Youth Science Center (KAYSC) — Science Museum of Minnesota: The Science Museum of Minnesota's youth development program where high schoolers (grades 9-12) work as paid museum employees on STEM crews in public h
• Teen Team — High Museum of Art: Paid year-long Teen Leadership Council of 15 high school students at Atlanta's High Museum of Art — behind-the-scenes museum work, program planning, a
• Fermilab Program for Research, Innovation, and STEM Mentorship (PRISM) — Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory: Fermilab's four-week paid summer program ($500/week) for Illinois high school seniors and new graduates, combining hands-on STEM projects and mentorsh

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