Hello! My name is Lauren Lynch and I am junior currently majoring in Public Policy & Public Service with an emphasis in health policy. I was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada and attended private school until I was ten. I soon moved to Arizona when I was going into the 5th grade and started public school (it was a drastic change!). I am so blessed that I was able to go to Arizona State and stay close to my family. I hope to work in a nonprofit or local government after I graduate, but am currently thinking about going into the 4+1 MPA graduate program. I currently live on the Tempe campus with three amazing roommates and commute twice a week downtown for classes. As much as I love the Tempe campus, downtown really feels like a home away from home.

(I'm second from the left!) 

I am interning at Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association (AzHHA) located in downtown Phoenix. AzHHA is a local nonprofit that works to create a network of hospitals and associations that work together to improve healthcare for all of Arizona. I will be working as part of a team who form a grassroots network that goes out into the community to interview people about their healthcare practices and beliefs. The three goals I have for this internship are as follows:

• Identify approaches that effectively motivate voter turnout in upcoming elections
• Build a grassroots network that can be mobilized for public support in future health initiatives
• Conduct and analyze a collection of qualitative interviews to discover health-related affinities within various sub-populations, thereby building empathy between those populations and AzHHA. 

I would also like to add that I began this internship this summer May 2015 and ended August 7, 2015. But by permission of my academic advisor I have been allowed to participate in this course now. I have kept a detailed record of my time at AzHHA and look forward to sharing my experiences.