Many high school students have aspirations of pursuing a career in science, whether it be as a laboratory researcher, doctor, or naturalist. Fortunately, there are plenty of opportunities for high schoolers to explore these professions before college and gain valuable insight into their future. The San Francisco Bay Area is an ideal place to start, as it is home to a diverse and educated population that supports museums and other cultural resources that offer internships for high school students. The Lawrence Science Hall Teen Internship Program is a four-month internship that provides high schoolers with the opportunity to gain practical skills, knowledge, and tools to facilitate hands-on science learning for young people.
The Careers in Science Internship Program is a multi-year paid internship for tenth and eleventh grade students from underrepresented communities in the field of STEM, including girls and students of color from San Francisco. The University-Level Introductory Experience in Microbiology (iCLEM) is an intensive six-week paid summer science course for economically disadvantaged second and third year high school students at a high school in Alameda, Contra Costa, or San Francisco County. The Introduction to Climate Solutions internship is a seven-week program designed for high schoolers from underrepresented groups in the field of STEM who are interested in science and concerned about the impact of humans on wildlife and land. The Monell Center's mission in the internship program is to stimulate interest in biomedical science, particularly in groups that are normally underrepresented in science. The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) offers summer programs for research apprentices and Young Women in Science that last ten weeks and provide students interested in the fields of STEM the opportunity to conduct laboratory research with mentors from the PNNL.
These institutions and facilities can offer high school internships in the Bay Area focusing on scientific research in a variety of areas, including biotechnology, medicine, and defense. The typical participating student will attend school in the morning and then work on a corporate internship from one to five p.m., Monday through Friday. The district bases these actions on air quality in the zip code of each individual school, according to AirNow. All of these factors make the San Francisco Bay Area an excellent place for high schoolers to gain real-world experience and explore potential careers through internships and other programs. With so many options available, there is no doubt that Contra Costa County has plenty of student-run internships completed each year at its science schools.
