If you’re a high school student in Illinois looking to jumpstart your career with internships, in this blog post I will layout the Top Five Internships across various fields.

Illinois offers a variety of internship programs tailored for students interested in fields such as STEM research, healthcare, and space science.

These programs offer the chance to work alongside professionals, gain real-world skills, and enhance your academic and career prospects.

Here are the top 5 internships available for high school students in Illinois.

1. Argonne National Laboratory

- High School Research Program Description: The program lasts an entire school year beginning in summer, when teachers apply to form a research team at their school.

After attending an introductory workshop, teachers are matched with a scientist mentor and charged with selecting their students.

During the fall and spring, teams prepare a research proposal; design and set up an experiment; gather and analyze data; make conclusions; and create a final poster.

In this program, school teams are considered to be part of the larger user community at Argonne: ESRP posters are presented annually to the Argonne scientific community in the spring.

This program is designed to enhance Honors and Advanced Placement STEM classes.

High school science teachers of any discipline (e. g.

Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Engineering, Environmental Science) who are willing to guide a team of 4-8 students in doing research are encouraged to apply.

Teachers are responsible for facilitating the research process with their team and acting as an intermediary between Argonne and their students.

Application Requirements: To qualify for the ESRP program, the teacher applicant(s) (one team allowed per school) must: Hold a valid state teaching certificate for grades 9-1

2. Attend a workshop in August to learn about synchrotron science, program requirements, and strategies to engage students in research, as well as to meet scientist mentors.

Program Activities: In this program, teams will: Develop an official General User Proposal of their project, which will be reviewed by a team of scientists Undergo registration and training to become an Argonne Facility User Interact with Argonne scientists at all stages of their research project, which may include lab visits, correspondence, and meetings in-person or by teleconference Collect data at an Argonne User Facility Prepare a professional poster of their project and present their results to the research community

2. Research in the Biological Sciences (RIBS)

- University of Chicago Description: This four-week intensive training program is designed to expose students to a broad range of molecular, microbiological, and cell biological techniques currently used in research laboratories.

Students are immersed in the research experience, giving them a taste of "life at the bench. " Using a project-based approach, the course progresses from a survey of basic lab techniques to the application of current molecular techniques in cell biology, genetics, developmental biology and cancer biology.

After two weeks of basic training, students spend the remainder of the course working on an independent project.

Most of a typical RIBS day is spent in lab with lectures given when needed to provide background and context for the experiments.

Communication skills are important in science.

RIBS students will have weekly writing assignments and keep a detailed lab notebook.

Students read original research articles and participate in group presentations.

Students will also attend weekly lunch time seminars given by research faculty.

The course ends with a research forum in which the students present the results of their projects.

Successful completion of the course will give participants the experience and confidence to work in a research laboratory.

Application Requirements: Current 10th or 11th grade students.

Students must have completed one year of high school biology by the start of the program.

This course is the most rigorous of the pre-college offerings in Biology, requiring that students have a demonstrated passion for science, with top grades in high school biology, math, and chemistry in honors or advanced-level courses, if available at the student's school The deadline to apply is our Priority Deadline, January 18, 202

4. All application decisions for this program will be released at the same time at the end of February.

Students must complete the Summer Session Application and all the related requirements, which can be reviewed in the How to Apply section.

Program Dates: June 15-July 13, 2024 Move-in: Sat.

Jun 15 Required Orientation: Sat.

Jun 15

- Sun.

Jun 1

6. First Class: Mon.

Jun 17 Move-out: Sat.

Jul 13 Class times: 9:00 a. m.

- 5:00 p. m.

3. Fermilab

- TARGET Program Description: The TARGET Program is a highly competitive six-week summer internship opportunity for Illinois high school sophomores and juniors who have a strong interest and demonstrated an aptitude for physics, mathematics, computer science, and engineering.

The program’s design combines both work and experiential learning.

TARGET encourages high school students to undertake college study and pursue careers in STEM disciplines.

Increasing the number of minorities (Black, Hispanic/Latino, Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Alaska Native/American Indian) and women in science, engineering, and computer science is a program priority.

Annually, the TARGET Program cohort is approximately 10-15 interns.

Eligibility: 2022-2023 high school sophomores and juniors (at time of application, the student must be a Sophomore or Junior).

Illinois high school enrollment

3. 0 grade point average or above on a

4. 0 scale Eligible to work in the United States Application Procedure: Before you apply, please have all your requirements ready.

Once you submit the application you will no longer have access and will not be able to upload any missing requirements.

Online application – Application Walkthrough Video Guide Application questionnaire Unofficial transcript Two letters of recommendation (Due date is application close date). (Once you submit your application you will receive an email request with a reference link to provide reference contact information.

Once you provide the info, we will email a link to your reference to upload the letter of recommendation.

Please note the reference link will only be sent out during normal business hours, Monday through Friday.

After hours applicants will receive their reference link when business resumes. ) Reference 1: Science Teacher – Contact Information Reference 2: Math Teacher – Contact Information Internship Details: Application Period: TBD Program Dates: TBD Acceptance Date: TBD Salary: $1

7. 20 per hour

4. Adler Planetarium

- Summer Internship Description: Are you looking for a summer job that will be challenging, fun, and eye-opening?

The Adler’s Teen Internship Program places current high school students in professional museum roles.

Review the 2024 Summer Intern Resource Packet for more info!

You should apply to the High School Internship if you’re: Enrolled in high school during the 2023–2024 school year (current 8th graders and college students are not eligible) Interested in building professional skills in a supportive and fun environment Excited to work collaboratively as part of a team Available for all onsite program dates (Monday–Friday, July 8, 2024–August 14, 2024).

Applications open on February 1, 2024, and close on March 1, 202

4.

5. Ladder Internship Description: Founded by Harvard entrepreneurs, Ladder Internships was founded with the mission to help the most talented high school interns work with the world’s most ambitious start-ups.

We do that by selecting the best interns, training them, and pairing them with world-class start-ups.

Our start-up founders are ambitious and care about young professionals

- they come from places like Harvard Business School, have gotten funding from places like the Y-Combinator, and have worked at companies like McKinsey, Google, and Microsoft.

Cost: $1900 Eligibility: Students who can work for 10-20 hours/week, for 8-12 weeks.

Open to high school students, undergraduates and gap year students!

Application Form!

Conclusion If you would like to learn how to get into very selective internships, watch this video where Rishab Jain, a Harvard Student, will help you land any internship!

PlayHow to Get Internships as a High Schooler (ULTIMATE GUIDE).