Lauren Rautenkranz

Lauren Rautenkranz is a multimedia journalist and weather forecaster. Her passions include all things weather related, enterprise reporting, and sharing people's stories. She is an enthusiastic, driven storyteller with experience in both television and radio. She is currently pursuing a Masters of Geosciences in Applied Meteorology through Mississippi State University. She graduated from the University of Florida's College of Journalism and Communications and holds a Bachelor of Science in Telecommunications News with minors in Geography and Communications Studies. She also earned a certificate in climatology and meteorology through UF's Geography Department.

Lauren is a Meteorologist/Reporter for WECT-TV News in Wilmington, North Carolina. In the past, she worked as a news correspondent for a lifestyle program airing in North Florida on WCJB-TV called My Ocala TV. She's also worked as a weather forecaster for WRUF-TV. She was previously a weather forecaster, main news anchor, and one-man-band reporter for WUFT-TV News. Last year, Lauren interned with WPTV-TV as a news and weather intern. She co-hosted UF's 90th annual Homecoming Parade in November of 2013. Lauren has also gained on-camera experience by anchoring the WUFT-TV news updates aired on WRUF-TV and also feature reporting for Gator Vision-TV. She has produced longer feature stories for Florida's 89.1 WUFT-FM as well. As part of her Gator Vision volunteer work, she was the field producer at the Gator Hotline radio talk show with coaches Will Muschamp and Billy Donovan for three years. She has interned for the ABC affiliate in Gainesville, WCJB-TV, and a Clear Channel Communications radio station in West Palm. Lauren has worked both in front of and behind the camera, learning what it takes to run live programs.

During her time at UF, she was heavily involved with many extracurricular and leadership activities. Lauren received the Ruth and Rae O. Weimer Award and the Outstanding Scholar Award for UF's College of Journalism and Communications in March 2014. She acted as UF's chapter president of the National Broadcasting Society and led the organization to earning the 2013-2014 Chapter of the Year. She won the national grand prize for video features two years in a row through NBS. She also contributed to work, which won a grand prize in the 2014 AP Professional competition. Lauren was a member of the College of Journalism and Communications Dean's Student Advisory Council.