Chamonix Reynolds
BS, Environmental Public Health
Hometown
Seattle, WA
Internship with
PRR
Editor’s note: This summer, DEOHS 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.
This past summer, as many Seattleites sat in traffic while the Ship Canal Bridge over I-5 was undergoing repairs, Chamonix Reynolds was up on the bridge itself. She was talking about safety with construction crews and promoting the proper use of personal protective equipment in videos about the highway preservation project, called Revive I-5.
Reynolds was there as a community engagement intern with PRR, a public relations agency that works in the environment, transportation and health sectors with clients including, in this case, the Washington State Department of Transportation. Throughout the summer, she also helped demystify mass transit for local residents through projects with Sound Transit, King County Metro and the e-scooter- and bike-share company Lime.
“Transportation is a strong interest of mine,” said Reynolds, an environmental public health major at the UW. “I was really interested in seeing how different communities in Seattle interact with transportation and how that affects public health.”
Making connections
Connecting with people was Reynolds’s favorite part of the job. Through Sound Transit’s mobility program, she surveyed people living in shelters or temporary housing about their transportation preferences and accessibility needs, handing out free transit and grocery cards.
“With the mobility program, I’ve seen people’s lives change,” she said. One survey respondent was able to visit her family for the first time in several years after Reynolds gave her a transit card through the program.
Reynolds also shared information at farmers markets about Sound Transit’s Link light rail extension to Federal Way and King County Metro’s forthcoming express bus service connecting Renton, Kent and Auburn.
And she handed out free bike helmets to riders through an effort with the e-scooter- and bike-share company Lime.
“I’ve even seen people riding a Lime scooter with the helmet I gave them,” she said. “That’s super fun.”
Exploring communications
Reynolds was originally drawn to environmental public health because she wanted to study infectious diseases, but this internship experience has ignited her excitement for the field of communications.
“Being on all these different projects has given me a chance to look at all of the different things that public health is involved in,” she said. “I really like working in the lab, but I also really like talking to people about health and safety.”
The wide variety of coursework for the major has also stoked her various interests. She has studied crisis communications during disasters with Associate Professor Nicole Errett, and learned about microbial sampling, infectious diseases, and workplace communication about personal protective equipment.
“The department is like: ‘If this is a strong interest for you, we have a class on it,’” she said.
As Reynolds enters her senior year, she is thinking about pursuing graduate school in public health, but she also has a standing offer of a job from PRR after she graduates.
“I loved the work environment and everything I’ve gotten the chance to do,” she said.
