Program Overview
The High School Apprenticeship Challenge facilitates and funds paid internships for underrepresented and low-income high school students throughout Massachusetts. The program creates more than 100 new internship opportunities each year by subsidizing intern wages for small life sciences companies and research institutions to enable them to hire paid interns. The program also offers a pre-internship lab training program for some school districts that provides rigorous biotechnology/biomedical and professional skills development.
The MLSC reimburses eligible host organizations up to $4,080 per intern, based on $17 per hour for six weeks of full-time work. Internships can be part-time or full-time and must take place between May 1, 2024 and April 30, 2025.
The program seeks to create paid work-based learning opportunities for underrepresented youth, supplement life science education with rigorous out-of-school-time (OST) training, foster relationships between economically disadvantaged schools and life sciences employers, develop students’ professional workplace skills, increase awareness of life sciences careers, and build a diverse STEM workforce pipeline.
Eligibility Requirements
Resources
Companies and prospective interns must first create an account in our application portal in order to submit an application:
Students and organizations already registered can log in here to access the application.
Impact on the Ecosystem
Since the program first launched in 2016, the MLSC has supported over740 internships at more than 115 organizations. Interns have represented more than 160 Massachusetts high schools and nearly 500 students have participated in MLSC-sponsored OST lab training programs designed to better prepare them for internships. The program has been offered in Boston, Brockton, New Bedford, Worcester, and Cambridge (also serving students from Chelsea, Revere, and Everett).
Connect with us to Learn More
If you have questions regarding the application process, please email: internship@masslifesciences.com.
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