12 Nursing Internships for High School Students
If you're a high school student interested in healthcare and looking to gain experience in nursing, this is just the blog for you! A nursing internship can offer valuable exposure, experience, and guidance from healthcare professionals actively working in the field.
A career in nursing is more than just administering medications and performing procedures. It requires clinical skills, a strong understanding of medicine, effective communication skills for patient care, and more. Nursing internships will immerse you in a hands-on learning environment where you can shadow nurses, interact with patients, and observe medical procedures. An internship will demonstrate your commitment to both theoretical and practical learning, helping you make informed decisions about your future academic and career paths while establishing a network of professional contacts in the medical community.
In this blog, we have curated a list of 12 nursing internships for high school students. These internships not only give you exposure to healthcare, but they also provide you with work experience and enhance your skills, adding value to your college applications!
1. Ladder Internship Program - Healthcare and Medicine Track
Location: Virtual! You can work from anywhere in the world.
Eligibility: Open to all high school students, who can work for 10-20 hours/week, for 8-12 weeks. These internships are also open to undergraduates and gap-year students!
Application Deadline: Multiple deadlines throughout the year. Summer cohort: April 14, 2024 (Regular Admission 1) | May 12, 2024 (Regular Admission 2).
Program Dates: 8-week programs with multiple cohorts throughout the year.
Cost: Starting at $1,990. Financial assistance is available
Ladder Internships, a fairly selective program founded by Harvard alumni, pairs high school students with startups and nonprofits around the world for virtual internships. You can choose the field you wish to work in, from a wide range of industries, including technology, machine learning, AI, computer science, finance, environmental science, sustainability, business, marketing, healthcare, medicine, media, journalism, and more. As an intern, you will work on meaningful projects that contribute to the startup or nonprofit’s larger mission, and present your work at the end of the program. This internship program includes one-on-one training in communication and time management, among other skills, and group training sessions with fellow interns. You will be paired with a manager at the startup and with a Ladder coach, who serves as a second mentor.
For students interested in nursing, there is an option to work in healthcare and medicine with companies specializing in these fields. For example, one of the companies that you can expect to work with is JuneBrain- a health tech company that specializes in improving remote monitoring in ophthalmology/ neurology. You can check out all the available options here on their application form.
2. The Seacole Scholars Program by Lifespan
Location: Providence, RI
Eligibility: High school students aged 16-19 with valid Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) licenses can apply.
Application deadline: Applications open in November and are accepted through January each year.
Program Dates: 7 weeks from June to August
Cost/Stipend: No cost; Paid opportunity but the exact amount is not specified.
Lifespan’s Seacole Scholars Program selects around 80 scholars with CNA licenses and gives them a chance to work on the nursing units for 4 days a week while spending one day a week attending Lifespan Workforce and Youth Development training ensuring that they get a well-rounded practical as well as academic experience.
During the internship, you’ll get the opportunity to explore exciting career options in healthcare and get career-building help from professional career experts. As an intern, you’ll be required to work at least 40 hours per week. The Seacole Scholars Program aims to encourage its interns to pursue a future career in medicine and provides daily career counseling and a possible offer of employment upon completion of the internship.
Location: Anschutz Medical Campus (Children’s Hospital Colorado), Aurora, CO
Eligibility: High school seniors at least 18 years old by the start of the internship can apply. Undergraduates and graduates are also eligible. Students must be Colorado residents.
Application deadline: Applications are closed for 2024 and will reopen for the 2025 internship in December 2024.
Program Dates: June 3 - August 2, 2024 (9 weeks)
Cost/Stipend: No cost; Students are provided a stipend of $3,500 to assist with travel and housing costs.
The Department of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and the Child Health Research Enterprise at Children's Hospital Colorado provide a research opportunity for high school students to work in labs. You will receive expert guidance paired with members of the Department of Pediatrics faculty at Children's Hospital Colorado to work on various projects in healthcare.
You will be introduced to research in child health by participating in a weekly lecture research series along with shadowing nurses and doctors. At the end of the internship, you will write a report that includes a written summary of your research experience, contributions, and accomplishments. Additionally, you will get a chance to observe and interact with medical health professionals while researching as the program encourages interns to produce abstracts for submission to local, regional, and national meetings allowing you to explore the academic and professional areas of medical health!
4. Kaiser Permanente (KP) Launch High School Program
Location: You can intern at a Kaiser Permanente Medical Center or business office closest to where you are. Find a location near you.
Eligibility: Current high school students aged 16-19 with U.S. work eligibility and permanent residence in a Northern California Kaiser Permanente designated service area. Students will need to commute to the location.
Application deadline: Applications will open in November 2024 for the 2025 program.
Program dates: June 17 - August 2, 2024
Cost/Stipend: No cost; $15.50 - 18 per hour
Kaiser Permanente is one of the top healthcare providers globally. Every year they offer high school students internships to gain practical experience in the healthcare industry. In addition to learning how to be a young medical practitioner, there is also a big emphasis on professional development where you will attend shadowing experiences and educational workshops to understand not just patient care but how the entire health industry works!
When applying for the program you can choose to be part of the Healthcare and Hospital Operation track where you will play a vital role in both visionary and strategic roles in various hospitals. Selected interns will attend weekly workshops to develop their skills, work and interact with supervisors and mentors, work on collaborative community service projects with peers, and build a network. Departments and projects change on an annual basis, with some past departments including nursing, administration, internal medicine, and patient care.
5. Eve and Gene Black Summer Medical Career Program
Location: Various medical centers in Los Angeles
Eligibility: Current 11th and 12th grade students are eligible to apply.
Program dates: 4 weeks (July - August)
Application Deadline: Applications for the 2024 program are closed and will reopen in January for the 2025 cohort.
Cost/Stipend: No cost; Unpaid. Each participant will receive a certificate of completion at the end of the program and one $500 scholarship will be awarded.
The Eve and Gene Black Medical program offers a small cohort of medical students the opportunity to work in different hospitals with medical mentors and experts. As an intern, you will attend workshops led by general pediatricians, and specialists, including surgeons, nurses, pharmacists, dietitians, infectious disease specialists, ophthalmologists, radiologists, child life, and therapists, (like physical, speech, occupational, or cognitive therapists) to understand how patient healthcare works.
To ensure that you can get hands-on experience, the program assigns you to a hospital in the Los Angeles area, like the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, to observe and help out with various medical procedures, treatment plans, and patient care to gain exposure as a young nurse and health care worker. At the end of the program, each participant will also receive a certificate of completion as well as the opportunity to receive a $500 scholarship from the Edward M. Rissman Scholarship Fund!
6. Cincinnati Children’s Hospital High School Summer Internship Program
Location: Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Cincinnati, OH
Eligibility: Graduating high school seniors who are residents of the Cincinnati area
Application deadline: The 2024 applications closed in February and will reopen in November 2024 for the 2025 program.
Program Dates: June-July (8 weeks)
Cost/Stipend: No cost; a stipend of $13 per hour is provided.
The High School Summer Internship Program offered by the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center is a great way for high school seniors to gain experience as young medical professionals. During your 8 weeks as an intern, you will spend about 20 hours a week working with nurses and other healthcare workers in various pediatric departments and sub-specialties.
As this is a entirely work-based internship, students will get paid to do hands-on work with patient care, making a real impact on each department they work with. Interns will get the rare opportunity to shadow their mentors in the facility. You must make sure to clearly state mentor preferences and specialties of interest in the application form. Apart from shadowing and observations, you will also be able to assist mentors on clinical or research projects. Group luncheons, workshops, group training, and seminars are also held.
7. Observer Program at Baptist Health
Location: Baptist Health, South Florida
Eligibility: Participants must be aged 16 or older at the start of the program.
Application Deadline: Applications are accepted on a rolling basis year-round.
Program Dates: Depends on the sponsor (medical professional) you will be shadowing. This will be decided by the clinician you’re paired with, and can extend up to 4 weeks.
Cost/Stipend: No cost for high school students; Unpaid.
Baptist Health offers high school students the opportunity to shadow a Baptist Health medical professional to observe several medical procedures, and clinician rounds and attend conferences and lectures. You will get a thorough understanding of what it’s like to be a medical professional with various behind-the-scenes of a career in health by observing nurses, physicians, doctors, and other medical staff of their choosing.
You will have the flexibility to choose your sponsor- a medical health professional at Baptist Health who will select participants for a duration of up to four weeks and guide them through the program, enabling them to engage medically and professionally. This program is a great opportunity for students interested in nursing to learn about the hands-on work that medical professionals do in a real-world hospital setting.
8. COPE Health Scholars’ The Junior Health Scholar Program
Location: The program is offered year-round at select sites in California, Washington, and Hawaii.
Eligibility: Scholars must be accepted to or enrolled in high school and be 16-18 years old by the application deadline for the entering cohort they wish to enroll in.
Application deadline: Varies depending on the location.
Program dates: Varies depending on the location. 3-month, 6-month, and 9-month program options are available.
Cost/Stipend: Program fee ranges from $324 - $631; Unpaid.
The Junior Health Scholar program allows high school students between the ages of 16-18 to shadow a current Health Scholar or work independently in the patient care setting dependent on on-site requirements. Junior Health Scholars observe how care, delivery, and administrative teams work together to deliver excellent care and explore whether a career in health care is right for them.
During the program, you’ll have the opportunity to observe care in various clinical environments. You’ll get to decide if a career in health care is right for you and which profession is the best fit, learn about potential career paths, develop a network, and receive mentoring opportunities from staff and Health Scholars. You will also receive a completion certificate from Keck Graduate Institute, a member of The Claremont Colleges upon graduation.
9. Health Careers Summer Internship at Hawaii Pacific Health
Location: Hawaii Pacific Health and its network of medical centers in Oahu and Kauai, HI
Eligibility: High school juniors and seniors can apply.
Application Deadline: Applications are closed for 2024 and will reopen for the 2025 program in late 2024.
Program Dates: June 17, 2024 - July 25, 2024 (Kauai) | June 17, 2024 - July 25, 2024 (Oahu)
Cost/Stipend: No cost; Stipend is paid (amount not specified).
The Health Careers Summer Internship is a six-week program geared to provide a hands-on experience to students interested in pursuing careers in health care. Selected interns will be able to learn about the workings of hospital systems, interact with and shadow healthcare professionals, and gain exposure to the variety of careers available in hospitals.
These internships are offered at multiple hospitals and medical centers in Hawaii, including Hawaii Pacific Health, Pali Momi Medical Center, Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children, Straub Medical Center, Kauai Medical Clinic, and Wilcox Medical Center. Interns can work in departments like the Intensive Care Unit, Respiratory Care, Physical Therapy, Patient Services, and more.
10. High School Service Internship Program at St. Elizabeth Healthcare
Location: St. Elizabeth Healthcare centers at Covington, Dearborn, Edgewood, Florence, Ft. Thomas, and Grant (across Indiana and Kentucky)
Eligibility: High school seniors are eligible to apply. (Applicants must be juniors at the time of application).
Program dates: The internship program runs for an entire academic year. Students must contribute a minimum of 1.5 hours of internship time per day or 7.5 hours per week throughout their senior year.
Application Deadline: Applications typically close in March.
Cost/Stipend: None
This program places high school seniors at one of their healthcare centers to explore what it is like to work on the ground at a healthcare organization. As an intern, you will be a part of several medical departments during the internship to have a direct impact and input on patient experience.
You will simultaneously be a part of clinical observation and service tasks that will enable you to gain a deep understanding of the factors that go into making healthcare organizations successful. You’ll get to observe and interact with various healthcare professionals including doctors, nurses, technicians, paramedics, and more. You’ll also get to work in departments like Emergency Services, Perioperative Services, Outpatient Services (Lab, Radiology, Therapy, etc.), and Inpatient Units.
The internship is designed in a way that as a high school senior, you will spend your first semester working with a rotation of departments and in the second semester you can choose to work with specialized departments to help you gain an in-depth understanding of the department of your choice!
11. Medical Career Collaborative at Denver Health
Location: Denver, CO
Eligibility: Applicants must be current high school sophomores at the time of application and attend school in the Denver metro or Colorado Springs areas.
Application Deadline: The applications will open in January 2025 for the 2025-2026 program.
Program dates: Applicants will be a part of the internship from the beginning of their junior year to the end of their senior year in high school. MC2 requires a full 2-year commitment.
Cost/Stipend: No cost; Participants will receive an hourly stipend but the exact amount is not available.
The Medical Career Collaborative or MC2 is a health careers pathway program designed to provide youth, starting in high school, the opportunity to gain experience and exposure to the world of healthcare and access to ongoing support in their pursuit of healthcare professions.
Each intern will be paired with a Children’s Colorado or Denver Health mentor to work alongside for the duration of the internship. Mentors are from a wide range of healthcare professions such as technicians, nurses, paramedics, therapists, physicians, and more. Alongside working as a young healthcare professional, you will participate in workshops for college and scholarship preparation while also learning and getting certification in courses like Mental Health First Aid, Bleeding Control, Basic Life Support, and more! Many MC2 alumni have gone on to pursue health careers and are now working as nurses, doctors, researchers, laboratory scientists, public health professionals, medical interpreters, technicians, and more!
12. UCLA BrainSPORT Summer High School Research Internship
Location: University of California, Los Angeles, CA
Eligibility: Rising juniors, with the intent that one may be a mentor for a rising junior next year – please apply especially if you are interested in extending the internship into the academic year.
Program dates: The program will run from early June to late August (2024 Dates TBA). Work will likely be three to four half-days per week, for approximately 16 hours per week.
Application Deadline: Applications typically close in April.
Cost/Stipend: None
The UCLA BrainSport Summer Research Internship allows students to work in clinical trials that have a direct impact on healthcare systems across the nation. As an intern, you will work alongside clinicians and nursing practitioners to conduct research in the BrainSPORT program.
You will get to collaborate with staff to recruit patients, collect and upload data, and conduct literature reviews. You will also attend weekly traumatic brain injury laboratory meetings where you will get exposure and an understanding of how clinal operation functions, enabling them to get a holistic view of not only research but also how research translates into clinical practice in patient care. Additionally, attending seminars, lectures, and discussions led by field experts will broaden your understanding beyond your projects, enriching your educational experience.
Looking for an immersive internship experience?
Check out Ladder Internships!
Ladder Internships is a selective, virtual internship program where students work with startups and nonprofits from around the world! The startups range across a variety of industries. As part of their internship, each student will work on a real-world project that is of genuine need to the startup they are working with, and present their work at the end of their internship. In addition to working closely with their manager from the startup, each intern will also work with a Ladder Coach throughout their internship. Apply now!
Stephen is one of the founders of Ladder Internships and a Harvard College graduate.