Maegan Chua
BS in Environmental Public Health
Hometown
Ketchikan, AK
Internship with:
Public Health – Seattle & King County
Editor’s note: This summer, 26 Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) undergraduate students have been getting hands-on experience as interns with health agencies, nonprofits and private companies. In our occasional “On the Job” series, we feature some of their stories.
I wear two hats as an intern with Public Health – Seattle & King County (PHSKC), one for School Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) and the other for the Public Health Ambassador Troupe. My main project for the former is writing website content on School EHS topics such as chemical safety and Prevention through Design. The latter involves student engagement and event planning, which started with the Public Health Camp and now with the Public Health Ambassador Troupe.
Although my responsibility differs for both, the experience I have from one translates to the other. For example, I helped with media planning for the Public Health Camp which gave me the ins and outs of public communication in the agency; this helped me in creating social media content on playground safety for School EHS in preparation for Children’s Health Month.
Spending summer at camp
Early August marked the second annual PHSKC Public Health Camp, an opportunity for youth 16 and older to engage in hands-on exposure to different fields in public health. The tagline for the camp is “THE Power of You” highlighting each and everyone’s personal and collective Human Experience (THE: The Human Experience). From planning to leading to participating in the camp, this entire experience helped me better understand the intersections within public health while also seeing the humanistic aspect of it. The camp’s goals were built for the participants but as an intern working with the leading committee, it helped me grow as an individual–both personally and professionally.
Gaining professional perspective
One of the most memorable experiences from my internship was attending the National Environmental Health Association’s Annual Education Conference (NEHA AEC) in Pittsburgh. This conference broadened my knowledge of environmental health fields and pressing issues. I connected with fellow environmental health students and professionals, which both shifted and highlighted my interests within environmental public health.
Building on classroom learning
Every day I realize how much of a strong foundation DEOHS has built for the different skills I used for my internship. Although I want to bring awareness, and I know others can say the same, studying a field involving climate change and social injustices can often feel like there’s no hope for progress. However, this internship experience gave me a new lens; it brought greater awareness of the resources I can utilize to create an impact. The “Why” that I learned in class was completed with the “How” that I learned in my internship experience.
Connecting reproductive health with environmental health
Before this internship, I was heavily focused on the microbiology and infectious disease aspects of environmental health. This made me think that I will spend my remaining time as an undergrad focusing on this sphere of EPH. However, my internship opened my eyes to other areas that I never thought I’d be interested in, such as lead exposure and food safety. As I explored these areas, it solidified my passion for maternal and child health.
Although I recognized the connections between reproductive justice and environmental justice, I never fully connected the two together until the NEHA AEC. Learning about people’s work in children’s environmental health motivated me to further explore my passion for reproductive justice. My project in school environmental health, along with safety and field visits for lead exposure and food safety, facilitated that effort. This internship experience helped me build a pathway to connect my passions for reproductive justice and environmental public health.
From this, I plan to work in environmental health after I graduate to better engage in maternal and child health and children’s environmental health. I then plan on pursuing my medical degree where I hope to intertwine my knowledge on reproductive health and environmental health.
Finding community within DEOHS
One of the many things I love about DEOHS is the community within the department. Since I joined the program, I have built relationships that I’m confident will last a lifetime. In addition, every day I meet someone in the department that inspires me with their work and shared passion for environmental health.
