Beyond the Classroom: 10 U.S. private schools where internships are part of the curriculum
Updated: Sep 11
Rankings and college admission rates still dominate how most families evaluate U.S. private high schools. But increasingly, it's what happens outside the classroom that sets students apart: shadowing physicians in a hospital wing, interning at a growing company, running an original research project, or turning a rough idea into a real product.
These experiences don't just make for stronger college essays, they help students figure out, years earlier than most, what they actually want to do next.
This is the first installment in a series profiling U.S. private schools with standout internship and experiential-learning programs. Ten schools are featured below, with more to come.
Featured in this article:
Lincoln Academy — Maine
Miss Hall's School — Massachusetts
Perkiomen School — Pennsylvania
St. Johnsbury Academy — Vermont
The Winchendon School — Massachusetts
Fryeburg Academy — Maine
George Stevens Academy — Maine
Léman Manhattan Preparatory School — New York
Maine Central Institute — Maine
Marquette Academy — Illinois
01. Lincoln Academy, Maine
Founded in 1801 in the coastal town of Newcastle, Lincoln Academy is a co-ed, non-sectarian day and boarding school for grades 9–12.
Juniors and seniors can join the CBLE (Community-Based Learning Experience) program, which places students with more than 20 local partners — regional hospitals, shipyards, energy companies, and marine science labs. Some placements are paid and count toward state-recognized career credentials; top performers can advance into a Maine Department of Labor-certified pre-apprenticeship track.
Every senior completes and publicly presents a LEAP capstone project, and the on-campus Applied Technology & Engineering Center (ATEC) offers hands-on coursework in marine mechanics, metalworking, woodworking, and aquaculture. Each spring, more than 30 local employers attend the school's career fair — and several alumni have gone straight from their internships into marine shipbuilding college programs.
02. Miss Hall's School, Massachusetts
A boarding and day school for girls in grades 9–12, Miss Hall's has been educating students in the Berkshires since 1898. Of its roughly 200 students, 70% board, and 35% come from 24 countries around the world.
The school's signature offering is Horizons, a program that sets aside one full school day each week for off-campus engagement, all four years of high school. It builds progressively, starting with self-reflection and community research, moving into volunteer work and student-led projects by junior year, and culminating senior year in real internships or independent research at more than 75 host sites, including businesses, hospitals, law firms, and cultural institutions.
A formal partnership with the Berkshire Innovation Center expands STEM opportunities further, and a dedicated program director matches every student with a placement. Internships count toward academic credit, and graduates often leave with recommendation letters from physicians, nurses, and other professionals they worked alongside.
03. Perkiomen School, Pennsylvania
Established in 1875 in Pennsburg, about an hour from Philadelphia and two hours from New York City, Perkiomen is a co-ed boarding and day school serving grades 6–12 plus post-graduates.
Experiential learning here runs through four specialized Institutes: Artificial Intelligence, Entrepreneurship, Medicine, and Design, which students can join as early as middle school. Each pathway combines foundational coursework, interdisciplinary electives, real-world placements, and a senior capstone, with top performers earning official Distinction recognition on their transcripts.
The Medicine Institute partners with St. Luke's University Health Network and Cedar Crest College's School of Nursing for anatomy workshops, EMT certification, and physician shadowing. The Entrepreneurship Institute offers dual-credit coursework through the University of Delaware, where students pitch real ventures to alumni investors and business mentors. One Medicine Institute student went on to become the first high schooler ever accepted as an intern at UPenn's School of Veterinary Medicine research center.
04. St. Johnsbury Academy, Vermont
Chartered in 1842, St. Johnsbury Academy is a large co-ed day and boarding school in northeastern Vermont serving around 1,000 students, including students from more than 20 countries each year.
Its Career and Technical Education (CTE) program sends students into community internships three days a week, runs a student-operated public restaurant, and offers Work-Based Learning placements that lead to credentials like ServSafe and LNA (Licensed Nursing Assistant) certification.
On the academic side, students can pursue a Grade 9 humanities capstone, independent science research, or the AP Capstone Diploma. The school's Applied Science & STEM track splits into Engineering Design, Biomedical & Health Sciences, and Sustainability Studies — engineering students work in a maker space stocked with 3D printers and CNC machines and compete in FIRST Robotics, while biomedical students pursue medical internships and lab research. In 2021, three students had original research peer-reviewed by Dartmouth scientists, presented at the AAAS Annual Meeting, and were inducted into the American Junior Academy of Science. A paid Youth Employment summer program even helps students open their first savings account.
05. The Winchendon School, Massachusetts
Founded in 1926 on a 326-acre campus in Winchendon, Massachusetts, this co-ed school enrolls about 265 students in grades 9–12 plus PG, with 78% boarding and 22% coming from abroad.
Winchendon guarantees every student a genuine internship or research experience before graduation, juniors, in particular, are required to hold a real on- or off-campus work placement. Each May, the school pauses regular classes for ColLAB, an immersive session where students choose an internship, independent research project, or faculty-led field study, culminating in a public presentation to the whole campus.
Past student placements include an internship at Hasbro as a NERF brand ambassador, research work at the LIGO Gravitational-Wave Observatory, and a student-developed product that drew a competitive offer on Shark Tank.
06. Fryeburg Academy, Maine
One of the oldest secondary schools in the country, Fryeburg Academy was founded in 1792 near New Hampshire's White Mountains and enrolls about 690 students from more than 35 countries.
Juniors and seniors can pursue credit-bearing internships, and every spring the school runs an intensive three-week May Term with more than 80 hands-on courses, including a three-year aviation track that prepares students to sit for the FAA Private Pilot exam. Three certificate programs, Fine Arts, Expeditionary Education, and Research & Design, each culminate in an independent project showcased school-wide, drawing on the region's airports, mountains, and lakes. One student took first place at the Maine State Science Fair for an AI-powered American Sign Language recognition project.
07. George Stevens Academy, Maine
Located in the coastal town of Blue Hill, George Stevens Academy traces back to 1803 and today enrolls about 229 students with a 1:10 student-faculty ratio.
An internship isn't optional here, it's a graduation requirement. Every student completes a half-credit Independent Study & Internship, and each February and March, juniors and seniors step away from regular classes for two weeks to complete self-directed research or internships under joint mentorship from faculty and industry professionals, finishing with a public presentation.
Local partnerships in shipbuilding, construction, healthcare, and hospitality supply real career placements, while on-campus CTE courses cover welding, marine mechanics, culinary arts, and robotics. Every student also completes 60 hours of community service before graduating. One standout project sent students to Costa Rica to research billfish and marlin fisheries, comparing findings to Maine's ice-fishing practices.
08. Léman Manhattan Preparatory School, New York
Set in Lower Manhattan's Financial District, Léman Manhattan is a co-ed IB school founded in 2005 serving students from age 2 through Grade 12. It's primarily a day school, though it has offered high-school boarding since 2012 — a rarity among New York City private schools.
Léman treats the city itself as an extension of campus. Students have secured placements at institutions including Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Juilliard Pre-College, and the New-York Historical Society. Its new Collegio Institute, launched in January 2026, houses selective tracks in AI Entrepreneurship (students pitch real startups to investors), Stanford's Life Design curriculum, and Broadway performance training. A three-year Science Research program pairs students with mentors from Columbia and NYU for original investigative work, one participant published findings in the peer-reviewed journal Transfusion. The school's community-service initiative has raised more than $9,000 for charity.
09. Maine Central Institute, Maine
Founded in 1866 in Pittsfield, Maine, Maine Central Institute (MCI) is a co-ed college-prep school serving grades 9–12 plus PG, drawing students from across the U.S. and abroad.
Formal partnerships with the Cianbro Construction Training Academy and Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center give students access to construction training and medical shadowing. The school's Experience MAINE framework, built around six academies, anchors career exploration alongside a mandatory Grade 12 Senior Project, and students can also earn vocational credentials through county technical-center classes. MCI's in-house Bosov Ballet company has sent alumni on to elite companies including the San Francisco Ballet and American Ballet Theatre.
10. Marquette Academy, Illinois
A Catholic co-ed day school in Ottawa, Illinois, spanning pre-K through Grade 12, Marquette Academy's roots trace back to 1859, with the current school formed in 2010 through a merger of three local Catholic institutions.
Its standout offering is a deep partnership with Illinois Valley Community College, giving qualified juniors and seniors access to dual-enrollment courses at 40% off standard tuition. Through the Running Start pathway, top students can graduate high school with an Associate Degree already in hand, over 70% of upperclassmen take at least one college-level course. Every student also completes 120 hours of community service across four years, and the student body logs more than 18,000 service hours collectively each year.
Stay tuned for Part II, featuring more schools with standout internship and experiential-learning programs.
What these ten schools share is a simple belief: that real learning doesn't stop at the classroom door. For families evaluating boarding and day schools abroad, that distinction can make all the difference, turning a high school diploma into a genuine head start on a student's future career.
At GE International, this is exactly the kind of insight we work to surface for our partner schools and agents every day, built on years of relationships with the institutions doing this work well. If you're a school or agency looking to be part of a network built on trust, real placements, and results, not just rankings, we'd love to have you with us. Reach out to marketing@geinternational.org to learn more about joining the GE International community.
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