People hurrying in every direction, the sound of printers running non-stop, phones ringing constantly–this is the work place. Many high school students work as interns in local businesses over the summer and receive work experience. In many cases, interns do not receive salaries for all the work they do.

Unlike what is depicted in movies, most interns do not always spend their time going on coffee runs every half hour. Oftentimes, interns provide fresh ideas and different perspectives that contribute to the success of the company and help it reach out to the younger generation. Interns should be paid in return for their participation.

“I think a teenage intern deserves to get paid if he or she is working full time,” said senior Pooyan Jamneshan, intern at the Calabasas Chamber of Commerce with the Volun-TEEN Program.

Experience alone is not always sufficient. Many times, more compensation should be offered, such as providing a bonus to interns whose work or ideas will be used at the company.

“Some qualified college students doing legitimate research work should be compensated,” said senior Jeff Rosenberg, an intern at UCLA. “I believe [getting paid] depends on the type of work and on the amount of experience the person has.”

Unpaid internships often favor the rich. Interns devote a lot of their time and energy and while people of wealthier backgrounds have the leisure of working for free, others cannot afford to work unpaid. This forces these individuals to deny internship opportunities and accept working jobs instead, as money is a large issue in their decision.

“It is unfortunate because [unpaid internships] limit certain people [from opportunities],” said Rosenberg.

If internships were paid, individuals would be able to exert their full potential in a field they are passionate about while being compensated for their time and effort. Unpaid internships prevent certain individuals from the opportunity to flourish in the fields in which they are passionate.

Internships are valuable life experiences that aid high school students in determining the career path they wish to pursue in college and in the future. Because many internships require a great deal of commitment, interns should be paid for their work in order to ensure equality of people from all economic backgrounds.

Jeff Rosenberg

Pooyan Jamneshan

 Interns hard at work: Rosenberg (above) and Jamneshan (below) pursue their internships in dark matter research at UCLA and the Calabasas Chamber of Commerce, respectively.