Lauren Ketchum is a senior at the University of Texas at Austin, where she is double majoring in Government and International Relations & Global Studies, with a minor in Italian. Her concentration is in issues of International Security. During her time at UT, she has played the French horn as a member of the Longhorn Band. Through the band, she became an active member of the national honorary band sorority Tau Beta Sigma. Along with her activities on campus, she has been very involved within the Austin community. She helped to raise funds for nonprofit organizations through Grassroots Campaigns Inc. and served as a messenger for the Texas Senate. Lauren has a strong passion for international relations. In 2010, she studied abroad in Beijing, China studying U.S. – Sino relations at Tsinghua University, and began learning Mandarin. She spent this past summer in Rome, improving her fluency in Italian while studying the country’s culture.