I visited a nearby research institution and was told researchers have essentially no time to spend with high school interns. Anything available was “gopher” or “greeter” work and they thought it would be a huge waste of a summer or part of a summer for a student, and boring at best.
Not sure why these help a student get classified as a “high achiever”. Maybe an ed specialist here can explain.
A student could simply observe for a few days to see if lab work (for example) was a possible career choice.