Being an intern will give you real-world experience, so you'll know what kind of career to pursue (or avoid) in the future. 

Sometimes student life is boring enough to make you actually look forward to cleaning your room. To ensure that a future job isn't equally depressing, invest some time as an intern. It will give you real-world experience, so you'll know what kind of career to pursue (or avoid) in the future. Here are 10 great internships and opportunities for high school students.

Research human genetic diseases with scientists at the National Institute of Health in Maryland, North Carolina, Arizona, Montana or Michigan. If you're 16 or older, go to training.nih.gov and search "summer internship program." $

Sit in on Congressional sessions and deliver materials and correspondence as a page (i.e. messenger) in Washington DC. Juniors 16 or older should visit senate.gov and search "pages of congress." $

Spend a summer working for Google through a mentoring organization, writing code for open source projects. You have to be 18 or older and accepted into an accredited higher-education institution or pre-university educational program. To learn more, go to code.google.com/soc. $

Join INSPIRE's online learning community and compete for the junior-year internship with NASA scientists. Only juniors are accepted for the internship, but anyone over 13 can join the INSPIRE community. Go to nasa.gov and search "INSPIRE project" to find out more. $

Build trails, fell trees, and eradicate invasive plants with a team of six or seven other students and two leaders anywhere in the U.S. Volunteers must be between 15 and 19 years old, and internship applicants must be 18 or older. Go to thesca.org, select the "serve" button, then "National Crews" or "Internships" to apply. V

Intern in the city of Kunming, working in a variety of capacities from photography to AIDS prevention. Take daily Mandarin lessons, and visit and stay in rural Yunnan Province. If you're 17 or older, find out more at wheretherebedragons.com. V

Care for marine life with professionals, participate in conser-vation projects, and educate the public on marine life in Massachusetts. If you've finished 10th grade and are 16 or older, apply at aquarium.nefsc.noaa.gov. V

Research and work with experts in your chosen field on projects for Smithsonian museums in Washington, DC and New York City. If you've completed 10th grade and are 16 or older, visit intern.si.edu. V

Limited to minorities, the Emma L. Bowen Foundation connects students with college funding and a five-year internship with various media companies nationwide. Juniors and older can apply at emmabowenfoundation.com. $

Rebuild the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans, LA. If you're interested and 18 or older, go to lowernine.org and select the "Volunteer" button, or contact Lauren Smith at lauren at lowernine.org. V

$ = paid internships, V = volunteer internships

Sources: genome.gov, nih.gov, aquarium.nefsc.noaa.gov, nasa.gov, Senate.gov, intern.si.edu, thesca.org, code.google.com, lowernine.org, emmabowenfoundation.com, wheretherebedragons.com