From UT to "YOU-want-a-COVID-vaccine?" aka How I Spent My Summer Slowing the Spread

The Health Collaborative serves as a learning space for students throughout the year. Hear from one of our fabulous summer interns, McKenna, about her work with THC's COVID Response Team.

Hi! My name is McKenna Goodman and I am a third-year public health major at the University of Texas at Austin. This summer, I was given the amazing opportunity to work as a member of the Learning Team at The Health Collaborative. My role originally was to help assist our CEO, Elizabeth Lutz, but once I was introduced to the COVID team and learned about their mission, I knew I had to be a part of it.

This team was formed to help San Antonio further its progress towards spreading COVID education, assisting with the distribution of free COVID vaccines, and much more. As a public health major, I saw an opportunity to make a real impact on my community and a way for me to apply all that I had learned in class into real world situations. I then spent the rest of my summer attending COVID vaccine clinics, giving out home test kits, and educating communities about COVID and COVID vaccines.

"a woman came to our clinic to receive the COVID vaccine in honor of her late husband that passed away due to COVID. It was a touching moment that helped reaffirm to me just how important the work the Health Collaborative is doing"

I am grateful that this opportunity allowed me to help my community and gave me valuable knowledge surrounding public health practices. One of the most impactful moments I experienced working with this team was when a woman came to our clinic to receive the COVID vaccine in honor of her late husband that passed away due to COVID. It was a touching moment that helped reaffirm to me just how important the work the Health Collaborative is doing.

I now know that a career in healthcare is what I would like to pursue because nothing gave me greater joy than creating a positive impact on our community like I was able to do this summer. I had an amazing experience and I’m so grateful to the Health Collaborative for allowing me to be a part of their work!