High school students— are you interested in preparing for careers in STEM? Why not consider an internship at PNNL? During the academic year, students attend regular classes at their school for half a day and work up to 4 hours a day, 5 days a week at PNNL, working with a mentor in a specific research area. The internship includes educational and leadership development activities involving laboratory demonstrations, field trips, and communications and career awareness workshops.
For an academic year internship, PNNL works in collaboration with your high school’s work-based learning (WBL) program to provide elective credits that apply to graduation.
Restrictions May Apply: Due to PNNL policy, students under 18 years of age are not eligible to work in laboratory spaces and may be restricted from certain kinds of field work.
Key Program Dates & Information
Internship applications open in early February. Internships take place during the school year between August and May. To learn more about our High School Business internship opportunities and/or to apply, visit the PNNL careers page.
Applying for an Internship
Once postings are open, a list of all high school internships will be available on the PNNL jobs website— type “High School” in the search bar. Collect the items below and then bundle them into one PDF file. The system will only accept one uploaded file. Please be careful— if you make a mistake, you will need to create a new profile and start the process over.
Cover Letter: Explain why you are applying. Be specific. Why do you want a high school research internship opportunity? Convince the reader to look at your application. Your cover letter will be seen first; therefore, it must be well-written and specific to the job for which you are applying.
Resume: Provide educational background and academic information. You may want to include advanced placement courses, a list of your computer programming courses or experiences, and/or office skills. Include two personal references.
Unofficial Transcript: Ask your counselor or WBL coordinator for a copy of your transcript.
Personal Statement: Describe who you are beyond your academic achievements and potential. Offer information regarding the kinds of activities, leadership, or impactful experiences you’ve had that contributed to your interest in STEM.
“My research internship experiences prepared me well for the University of Washington. I integrated easily with lab environments, and I know that my prior research experience was essential in getting accepted to the highly competitive Bioengineering department at UW. Additionally, my internship experiences also swayed me to pursue research throughout my undergraduate and professional careers.” — Jackson Chin, Post-Bachelor’s Research Associate, PNNL National Security Directorate.