Advice for Undergrad Internships/Research

<p>I'm currently a freshmen MechE heading into my second semester at SUNY at Buffalo. The summer I graduated high school, I interned at a local mechanical engineering company in their R&D department. Even though I had no engineering experience, one of the managers there knew me from science fairs and said he wanted to hire me now so that I would be more experienced in future summers. The idea was to have me intern every summer, and hire me once I got my degree. </p>

<p>We'll see as I progress though college whether this changes, but at this point, I'm interested continuing to graduate school. From what I hear, research experience is highly valued in grad school applications. </p>

<p>I guess what I'm asking is: would it be better for me to pursue different research experiences during my summers, or continue to intern for the company that I've been working for each summer?</p>