High School Apprenticeship Challenge

The High School Apprenticeship Challenge is a paid life sciences internship program from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) for underrepresented and low-income high school students in Massachusetts. It creates internships by subsidizing intern wages at small life sciences companies and academic research labs. For the 2026-27 program year, internships can be part-time or full-time and must take place between May 1, 2026 and April 30, 2027. Interns are hired and paid directly by their host organization as W-2 employees. The MLSC reimburses hosts up to $4,080 per intern, based on $17 per hour for six weeks of full-time work. Hybrid positions are allowed, but at least 40 percent of a hybrid internship must be in person. The MLSC also supports pre-internship lab training in Brockton, New Bedford, Worcester, and Cambridge.

Students must be at least 16 when the internship starts. They must attend or have graduated within the past two calendar years from a qualifying Massachusetts school: a Chapter 74 vocational technical high school (or a public school with a life sciences Chapter 74 program), a public or charter high school in a Gateway City, a public or charter high school where at least 25% of students are low income, or a tuition-free private school serving low-income or underrepresented students. Homeschooled residents of qualifying communities and METCO students also qualify. Recent graduates cannot be enrolled in college. Students register and apply through the MLSC online application portal, and interested employers reach out to applicants directly. There is no application deadline because placements are rolling, but applications may close once funding runs out.