PAWS Chicago High School Internship

The PAWS Chicago High School Internship is an unpaid, in-person role in Chicago for high school students age 16 and older. Interns help out at the PAWS Chicago Medical Center and the Lincoln Park Adoption Center. Typical tasks include cleaning, general shelter chores, and feeding and walking dogs, along with other hands-on work. Interns serve on a regular weekday schedule during the school year, sometime between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. The exact schedule is worked out between the program administrator and a PAWS supervisor. PAWS Chicago takes only a limited number of high school interns each semester. The internship is unpaid, and housing is not provided. High school students who are not part of a formal program can look into the PAWS Chicago Junior Volunteer program instead.

Must be at least 16. Students do not apply on their own: to take part, a student must already belong to a structured job-readiness or career program run by a school or community organization. That partner program needs its own participation rules, including an interview, required service hours, regular student check-ins, and an administrator who can be PAWS staff's point of contact. Interns must commit to a recurring weekday daytime schedule during the school year. Program administrators who want to partner with PAWS Chicago reach out to the organization's internship team by email.