VRG also offers The Eleanor Wolff Scholarship which is a paid summer internship ($2,500 plus $1,000 toward housing) at VRG’s Baltimore office. Here’s what our interns have had to say about their experiences: http://www.vrg.org/student.

Good luck!

Starting a vegetarian club in high school is a powerful way to spread the word about the nutritional benefits, animal rights issues and the ecological advantages of vegetarianism. Bringing together individuals with similar ideas and interests makes advocating more enjoyable and productive. When it comes to activism, numbers are important. Every person brings something new and different to the table. Having a multitude of diverse perspectives and skills is valuable when it comes to formulating and executing successful advocacy efforts.

The first step in starting a vegetarian group is to identify the purpose of the club; it could be as simple as educating your peers about the benefits of a vegetarian diet. Later in the process, when you meet with school administrators about starting the club, it will be helpful to be prepared for the questions they will ask. If you can, seek out a core group that can help you start the club. If you do not already have people in mind, you could hang up posters with your contact information around school asking for volunteers who are interested in helping start the club.

Next, you should speak with a school administrator about the necessary steps in starting an official school sponsored club. When I started a vegetarian club in high school, I went straight to the principal to get the necessary forms. Many high schools require that the student interested in founding the club finds a teacher who is willing to serve as the sponsor. In some cases this means that the teacher should also be willing to hold the club meetings in his or her classroom, but this is not always the case. If you do not have a teacher in mind, try asking your friends if they have any ideas. Some schools require signatures in order to demonstrate that students are interested and willing to attend the club’s meetings; these should not be difficult to gather. Kitty Jones, a recent high school graduate, says that her high school required 5 primary members, a mission statement, and the completion of a small form.

The following list includes vegetarian club activities and projects initiated by Kitty’s animal rights club and my high school’s vegetarian club:

• Contact a vegetarian organization and ask for them to send you free flyers, pamphlets, and stickers, or print the PDF handouts that can be found here: http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/.
• Vegan bake sales are a great way to raise money for animal rights or vegetarian organizations, and for letting people taste how delicious vegan food really is. You can even have a group baking party so everyone can be involved and become better acquainted.
• Give away free vegan samples at school or in the community; you can also attach a vegetarian pamphlet to the food.
• Movie screenings are a great way to educate and bring people together. Forks Over Knives, Earthlings, Food, Inc. and The Cove are great movies for those interested in vegetarianism and animal rights.
• Organize a group work day at a local animal sanctuary or shelter.
• At a local fast food or other type of restaurant give out flyers or coupons promoting their vegetarian options; for example a veggie burger at Burger King, a vegan burrito at Chipotle, or the testing of a vegan sandwich at Subway.
• Hold a cat toy and dog treat making party for local shelters.
• Conduct a supply drive for local animal sanctuaries.
• Start a school-wide petition against dissection.
• Petition for the school to offer more vegan options, such as soymilk and veggie burgers in the cafeteria. For more information, see: http://www.vrg.org/teen/high_school_cafeteria.php.
• Campaign for district-wide Meat Free Mondays.
• Host dinner nights where members of the club can cook a vegetarian meal together, relax, and hang out.
• Organize a raffle fundraiser to raise money for the club in order to cover the cost of food handouts and bake sale supplies.
• Promote a “kindness to animals week” where students can sign pledges of kind things they will do for animals (like go vegetarian for a day, week, or forever, boycott the circus, etc.) and post them all over the school.
• Prepare a discussion topic or theme for every meeting to help keep things structured.
• Take turns bringing in vegetarian-related articles to promote an environment of collaborative learning.
• Take group photos holding signs that address a particular company, followed by “stop testing on animals,” and mail it to that company.
• As a group, host an animal rights information table in the student lounge or other area with a lot of student traffic.

Invite guest speakers such as local activists in your community or leaders in local animal rights organizations.

• Make animal shaped posters advertising the club, meeting time, and location.

If your school uses video announcements, make a creative video to promote your club. If you do not have a video camera, use photos to create a stop motion video using fruits and vegetables. For inspiration, check out the one I made in high school: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vHDneuS4vY

• Prepare PowerPoint presentations to help inform the club about issues such as animal testing and the hidden animal ingredients that vegetarians sometimes overlook.
• Ask your librarian if your club could create an animal rights library display complete with vegetarian books, cookbooks, and vegetarian pamphlets.
• Ask the activities director at your school if you could sell vegan snacks at school events, and be sure to include a sign indicating that the food is cruelty-free and vegan.
• Use some of the club’s earnings to purchase an animal suit to wear to help bring attention to your campaigns and advocacy efforts.
• Organize events to celebrate World Vegetarian Day on October 1st and National Meatout Day on March 20th.
• Create a design for a club t-shirt and take it to a local shirt screening business. Wearing cool vegetarian shirts around school is a great way to make the group known.
• Create a Facebook page for you student group where you can post up-to-date information about the vegetarian movement and send out invites to activities and events.
• Contact local vegetarian/vegan restaurants and ask if they would be willing to donate food to your group meetings. A bakery near Kitty’s school donated over-baked vegan donuts which helped boost the meeting turn out.
• Start a vegetarian mentoring program within your school. Interested club members can serve as mentors to those looking for guidance as they make the transition to a vegetarian diet. This program is also useful for vegetarians who are looking to become vegan.

Be creative about the promotion of your club and the activities you plan. Feel free to think of things not listed in this article and be sure to ask your group for ideas. An important thing to always emphasize is the inclusiveness of the club; an open membership is the best way to reach the most people. Never exclude someone from your club because they are not vegetarian. It may be helpful to hold elections at the second or third club meeting. It is a good idea to elect a president who will lead the meetings, a vice president who plans events, a treasurer who handles funds, and a secretary who records and reads minutes. If your club is smaller, you may want to combine officer tasks to only a few positions; if your club becomes larger, you may want to add additional officers, such as a publicity officer.

Remember that even when only a few people attend, you are still making an impact. Even on days when nobody showed up at meetings, Kitty sat by herself writing letters urging companies to be more compassionate toward animals. Independent projects such as this are still tremendously helpful, and Kitty’s friends later told her how her dedication inspired them. Starting a vegetarian club is hugely rewarding and easier than you would think. A single vegetarian holds great potential in terms of who he or she may influence; a group of vegetarians working together holds even more. Vegetarian clubs are a powerful force for the vegetarian movement. Though you may get frustrated at times, remember that if you work hard enough, your group will only gain momentum, the going will get easier, and you will accomplish more than you ever thought imaginable.

For more information about starting a student group, see: http://www.vrg.org/activist/student.htm and http://www.vrg.org/blog/2012/06/25/how-can-you-start-a-vegan-club-in-high-school/.

Designing your own service project that engages with an issue you and your friends care passionately about can be an extremely rewarding and enjoyable experience. In high school, my friends and I distributed free vegetarian burritos to the homeless. Our project was simple: we would fundraise, use the money to purchase and prepare burritos, and distribute them to the homeless.

This project was an informal operation, and sometimes my friends and I would use the ingredients we found in whatever house we happened to be hanging out in. Other times, we would ask our friends and family for money or we’d contribute from our own pockets. Burritos are just about the easiest and cheapest thing to make, and how you make them can really just depend on what ingredients are available at the grocery store. Its saves money to buy unprepared, bagged beans, and you can cook, drain, and mash them up to create your own refried beans. Spread them on some flour tortillas with a bit of chunky salsa, sautéed peppers and onion, and you’ve got a delicious, nutritious, cheap meal. You can use wax paper to wrap the burrito and secure it with a rubber band. My friends and I drove to the locations where homeless people were known to be, and we passed the burritos out to anyone who wanted one.

Some cities have strict regulations when it comes to feeding the homeless, so be sure to do a bit of research before you get started. Depending on where you live, it might be a good idea to work with an already established organization. You can work with them to incorporate healthier, meat-less options. Find cheap vegetarian recipes that can be easily prepared, and share them with the organization providing the meals. Inform them about the nutritional benefits of meal-less meals, and advocate that the homeless deserve better, more nutritious foods.

Though my friends and I would often eat burritos together, and the project was initially an extension of this time we spent together, Operation Burrito was also something that was very meaningful to us. My first year as a vegan was a time of great confusion, realization and frustration. Before becoming vegan, I was vegetarian for four years. Motivated by a deep appreciation and love for animals, I was not yet aware of the environmental degradation coinciding with an omnivorous diet, the health benefits of a vegan diet, or the implications meat eating has on global food distribution. The latter was what inspired me to become vegan, and my new found understanding of my relation to such pervasive global food inequity was difficult for me to comprehend. I could not understand why the astounding nature of global food disparities – and how truly unsustainable meat consumption is – had not been revealed to me sooner, and worse, why nobody seemed to care.

Operation Burrito provided me a way to channel my frustration with such widespread food injustice in a way that would allow me to help my community. It was a platform for critical discussion among my friends, and was a way for us to make a small difference in the lives of those unable to attain enough food. Our efforts were appreciated by those who ate our burritos, and we were, in a small way, able to feel slightly better about our place in the global scheme of things.

From its start when she was in third grade, Gretchen’s vegetarianism was a struggle for her family to understand. “Being from Iowa,” says
Gretchen, “the diet is typically a ‘meat and potatoes’ type of meal.” Gretchen began to question this lifestyle that was so inherent to her
family from a young age. To her, the idea of eating something that was once alive and breathing seemed “like the most selfish thing,” and she
decided to stop eating meat.

In her first year of high school, Gretchen began working at Fresh Café and Market, a restaurant serving fresh and seasonal smoothies and sandwiches. Before Gretchen was employed at Fresh Café and Market, it did serve fish and chicken, but since she joined their staff, she encouraged and assisted them to stop selling any meat or fish. This job has demonstrated and increased Gretchen’s awareness about vegetarian issues, knowledge about vegetarian health, and dedication to the vegetarian lifestyle. Through her job, she talks to both vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike about the health benefits of vegetarianism and the reasons for living a meat-free life.

Gretchen also has devoted over 200 hours to community service during high school. She worked on the student board of Meals from the Heartland, a group that provides vegetarian meals to hungry people in Des Moines, as well as Haiti and some parts of Africa and the United States. This year, Gretchen helped organize fundraisers and made over $1,500 for the organization. She also has given her time at a local animal shelter, as a dog volunteer, making sure the dogs stay happy and get an adequate amount of attention each day.

Gretchen hopes to continue influencing people to lead healthier vegetarian lifestyles throughout college and plans to study dietetics. “I know I can make a huge difference in the lives of people by promoting natural and vegetarian living,” says Gretchen.

For more information about The Vegetarian Resource Group scholarships, see http://www.vrg.org/student/scholar.htm

To donate towards future scholarships, please visit http://www.vrg.org/donate

By Hillary Blunt, VRG Intern

Kitty is an activist every day of her life, because, according to her, “animal and environmental rights are what my life is based around.” From
passing out vegan samples in a cow suit at the local farmers market, leading a vegan bake sale at her school, handing out vegan starter
packs, preparing for vegan outreach events, to leafleting to the general public, Kitty keeps herself busy with vegetarian grass roots activism.
Kitty has educated countless individuals about the benefits of a vegetarian diet through hosting animal rights film screenings, dedicating many hours to volunteering, urging her school to collect more vegetarian products for the food drive, passing out recipes, collecting and distributing vegetarian food to the homeless, hosting fund-raisers, and campaigning for a district wide Meatless Monday school menu. Kitty’s
unyielding commitment to making the world a better place is remarkably inspiring.

Kitty has introduced compassionate eating choices to her classmates by holding vegan potlucks, passing out vegan samples with pamphlets
attached, taking friends out to vegan restaurants, and inviting animal rights speakers to give presentations at her school. Kitty is founder
and president of her high school’s animal rights club and conducts outreach with the Seattle Animal Defense League, Northwest Animal Rights Network, Action for Animals, and The Humane Society. As campaign intern for The Humane Society, Kitty gathered over 10,000 signatures during the summer of 2011, more than any other volunteer in the history of that organization’s initiative campaigns. Additionally, Kitty started a “Housecleaning for the Greater Good” business in which all proceeds are donated to animal rights organizations.

Kitty plans to pursue environmental science so she may protect the rainforest and work to alleviate the unsustainable and environmentally degrading effects of factory farming and animal agriculture. Veganism is a critical aspect of Kitty’s life; in order for her to live happily, she feels she must do all she can to encourage others to take social responsibility and put the lives of others and the health of the environment before their own personal pleasures. An unstoppable catalyst for the animal rights, vegetarian, and environmental movements, Kitty’s impeccable perseverance, dedication, and enthusiasm will undoubtedly promote change for the better.

VRG sponsors two annual $5,000 scholarships for graduating high school seniors who have promoted vegetarianism in their communities. For more information on the scholarship, visit http://www.vrg.org/student/scholar.htm.

To donate to the scholarship fund, go to www.vrg.org/donate and write scholarship in the comments.

By Shelby Jackson, VRG Intern

My freshman year I was the only vegan in the entire high school. There were some vegetarians, but many of them did not know about veganism. Even some of my friends didn’t understand or respect my choices. I had tried to make some small efforts to educate people and to even simply explain myself to others, but most of the time I felt like there wasn’t much I could do to clarify or even defend my position to the dozens of other students at my school who either knew nothing about
veganism, thought it was odd, or disagreed with it entirely. I felt that, because I was so outnumbered, there was nothing I could do to promote a change within my school environment. For a while things seemed kind of hopeless. There was no way I alone could change the way things were. For the majority of the school year I grew somewhat comfortable being the only vegan in the school. I had never met any other vegans my age and I had minimal support coming from others, especially those within my age group.

However, one day in March when I was coming out of history class a junior who I recognized, but had never talked to, came up to me in the hallway. She ecstatically told me that she had just recently decided to become a vegan and had come to me because she knew I was, too. She wanted to start a club. I thought it was a great idea, but I was shocked. She had just become a vegan and already was proposing a way of getting the school involved. I had always wanted to start a vegan-related club, but never got the feeling that I could do it all myself or that anything could possibly come out of it because I would have little support. I worried that no one else would join. I never would have done it alone. I was glad this girl had come up to me because with another person, I finally had the help and motivation I needed to do something. This way even if no one joined the club, I wouldn’t be the only one.

Following all the procedures to start a club at my school was not a simple task. We had to get a club request form from the school’s website on which we were required to write the club’s intentions, request a specific budget from the school Senate, and receive a signature from the teacher who agreed to be the club advisor. Once the form was completed, the school’s Senate had to approve it. At the time this felt very overwhelming for both of us. But, fortunately, we were able to have everything together and turned in on time.

A couple weeks later our Vegan Club got approved by Senate. We were so happy our efforts had paid off, but it was relatively late in the year so all other clubs had gotten their starts months ago when the year started and we hadn’t. At the beginning of each year there is a club fair where each club displays their intentions for the year and gives out candy, cake, and other treats to convince other students to join. We wouldn’t get that opportunity. It was too late. Because it was closer to the
end of the year, our goals were going to have to be more directed towards establishing our club, introducing our ideas to the school, finishing off the year successfully, and setting it up for the next year.

For our faculty advisor I asked a teacher who I knew well and who both my co-member and I agreed would be the most helpful for the club. She was my environmental science teacher and she was supportive of our efforts to get the whole school involved. She knew I was a vegan. She was very encouraging and even requested I bring in vegan food for the class whenever I wanted to. She helped us brainstorm and plan events for the rest of the year.

Our first goal was to get people interested in the club. At the start a lot of people mocked the idea, and the Senate almost didn’t approve it just because it was so late in the year. We had to prove to the school and to ourselves that we could be a successful club even without a lot of support. So, we went straight for people’s stomachs. The first event we coordinated was a huge feast outside the school where we gave out free vegan food that we had prepared. It was very successful. It was a warm, sunny day and nearly the entire school (students and teachers) was outside eating our food. It was a great feeling. We knew we had proved ourselves to the rest of the school. If they didn’t know before, people knew after that day that vegan food could actually taste good.

Before the event was done, we had several students come up to the food table and ask to join the club. We gained lots of new members that day. Our club finally had more than just two people. Once it was clear that people had become interested in the club, we tried to get them interested in the cause too. We gradually began focusing on other things and a lot of our later actions involved raising money for various organizations. We had bake sales, activities on Earth Day, and we even gave a presentation in front of the school. It was a lot of fun, and we got a lot of recognition for our efforts (mostly because people liked our food). No one changed their ways of eating as a result of our deeds, but people respected the action we were taking, so we still enjoyed putting in all the work.

I would suggest to anyone else who is thinking about starting a club to first look for an ally, a friend or anyone else who can help out with the planning and organizing. If that’s not possible, finding a supportive mentor could also be beneficial. If it’s too difficult to find a current supporter, it might be useful to try to recruit someone to join the cause. It is always best to plan ahead for a lengthy process and to give yourself enough time. Another thing that I can’t stress enough is enticing people with good food. It works!

Even with the regrets I have about my initial inhibitions, I am proud of what the club was able to accomplish. The best thing that came out of it was the way we set it up for success in the coming years. Because we started it so late in the year, it was able to smoothly transition into the next year right from the start. The club got really popular the following year. We did bake sales and more free food days, as well. We also coordinated with the cafeteria staff to have a couple of all-vegan lunch days. Although the co-founder graduated the second year of the club, many new people have joined. The club changed its name to the Vegan/Vegetarian club to encourage a wider range of people to join. The past couple of years, we’ve organized school-wide activities on Earth Day to get the whole school involved, aware and participating in activities to help educate everyone about different ways of living and eating cruelty-free.

During the summer of 2011 I was going to live in Ushuaia, Argentina, the closest city to Antarctica for about 6 weeks. I would stay with a host family of four and volunteer every day at a pre-school called Dailan Kifki. Although Ushuaia was going to be my final destination, there were no direct flights to the area from the United States. So I first flew into Buenos Aires and stayed there for a couple days before departing once more for my home-to-be.

In Buenos Aires I stayed with a friend of my host’s in Ushaia. A lot about Buenos Aires reminded me of New York; drivers’ disregard for pedestrians, the subway, old museums, streets and sidewalks crowded with people waking at fast pace, and most importantly the hundreds of restaurants. In Buenos Aires I had no trouble finding food to eat. There were vegan and vegetarian restaurants aplenty where I could find meals I was used to as well as vegan versions of traditional Argentine cuisine. Two restaurants that I especially liked were called “Noble y Natural” and “Kensho” and they served all vegan food. Buenos Aires was only a stopping point, however. The big capital city would not be anything at all like the small, remote town of Ushuaia.

In Ushuaia, the food situation was a lot different than in Buenos Aires. Because Ushuaia is located in such an isolated area and the temperature is always so cold, there isn’t much produce that is grown anywhere nearby. Argentina is one of the highest meat-consuming countries in the world and, in Ushuaia especially, it was very difficult to find vegan food. But it was still possible. One of the reasons it was so hard for me to find food for myself at the beginning was because, for the first couple of weeks at least, I wasn’t looking for any. The family I was living with made me food when they ate their meals. There was always food I was able to eat, but the meals did not have much nutritional value. Most nights I would have polenta or some type of white pasta for dinner. Although the family was respectful of my wishes to not consume any animal products, it was difficult to get all of my nourishment from the food I was eating at practically every meal. I gained weight consuming empty carbs every day and I found it was hard for me to stay healthy eating only the food they made for me.

The food (even more than the language) was the toughest aspect to get used to. And not just the food itself, but the timing of the meals as well. The members of my host family didn’t eat breakfast, and if they did it was something very light. I, however, could not make it through the day without something to eat in the morning. I had to have food in my stomach before I set off for work at the pre-school. I usually had whole-wheat bread with jam. Most people I met would go about their days having eaten little or no breakfast and then around noon they’d have a light snack. The family I stayed with would come home after school/work and have a pretty heavy snack between 3 and 5pm. This is when mate, a beverage made from dried leaves of the yerba mate plant, is drunk. It’s usually consumed with crackers, cookies, pastries etc. I was usually hungry by the time I was done working, so I would have crackers with the mate. Dinner was eaten late, usually around 9 or 10pm. It was an interesting contrast to my normal eating habits in the US. I enjoyed the challenge of the new experience, but it was still extremely difficult to adjust to.

Eventually I began going shoppping by myself at the local grocery store. I’d buy almonds, bananas, apples, and other snack foods that I could bring with me to the school. But the food was not very fresh. I often could not find good quality fruits and vegetables. Almost all the fruits were badly bruised or rotten. However, in my last couple of weeks in Argentina I discovered a natural foods store called Iacasi only a few blocks away from where I lived. I was so happy I had found it. It had EVERYTHING. Dried fruits, nuts, lentils, vegan cookies, whole wheat and buckwheat pasta, candies, I even found some dulce de soja (the vegan version of dulce de leche) which tasted just as good as the real thing. I was finally able to find healthy food. The only problem was that it was expensive so I could only get a few items at a time with the money I had. The health food store became my haven for a while. I regret not having found it sooner. I probably could have stayed healthier in Argentina had I been able to chose my own food from the start. My experience in Ushuaia, though challenging, gave me a lot more courage to advocate for myself when it comes to food. I realized that I shouldn’t rely too heavily on others and that I should be the one taking control of my diet. Though there were not too many good options for me, I still gained a lot of knowledge
about Argentine culture and its foods (even the kinds I didn’t get to eat).

For three weeks of the summer of 2010 I stayed in Heredia, Costa Rica. Through a program called CPI (Centro Panamericano de Idiomas), I lived with a family and attended classes at a school for five hours a day. Before I started, I filled out a questionnaire with information about medications, allergies, living habits, etc. to determine which family to live with would be the best fit for me. There was also a section about food allergies and restrictions which included the option to select “vegetarian.” I called the school ahead of time to check to see if it was possible to put “vegan” on the sheet. I talked to the people in charge of the school. They said there had been other vegans who had come to the program before and that they would let the family know about my diet. They assured me that it would be more than possible to have them cook vegan meals for me. It seemed like it would all work out perfectly.

The first day I arrived, the family I was going to be living with presented me with lots of food as a way of welcoming me. Unfortunately, none of the food I was offered was vegan. I felt rude refusing their offers, but I was also nervous that the school had not actually informed them of my dietary restrictions. My Spanish skills at the time were not very strong and I had very little confidence in my abilities, so it was a bit of a challenge to communicate with them. Eventually, I was able to make clear that I did not eat anything that came from animals. They asked me if I was a vegetarian. I told them I was, but that I also did not eat dairy or eggs. They understood. They thought it was weird, but they respected it.

The grandmother was the one who made the meals for everyone in the house. She was very kind and always assured me that the dishes were vegetarian. The meals I had while I was there were always delicious. The food was simple. I had black beans and rice just about every day. I ate some type of fruit (usually mango, papaya or pineapple) with every meal. There were lots of vegetables, great coffee, and most of the bread in their house was vegan. There were almost always tortillas and pico de gallo to go with the black beans and rice, so I often just made myself mini burritos.

When I wanted a snack after school there were mini convenience stores nearby that had nuts, chips, dried fruits, or other snack-type foods to munch on. I never got too hungry and I liked to save my appetite for when I got home because there was always a nice meal waiting for me. Sometimes I went out to eat with the friends I made from the school. I could always find something to eat at restaurants. Most had French fries, beans, rice, vegetables, chips, salsa and soups that I could eat, but I still always checked and double-checked with the waiters about the ingredients. Usually I just said I was a vegetarian, but that I was also allergic to dairy and eggs which made things a lot easier.

I think that even if I hadn’t been in an organized program, I still would have been able to find and make myself a variety of meals in Costa Rica. The food seemed really simple to me. Of course, since I didn’t prepare my own food, there’s no way I can be completely sure that the food the family made for me was completely vegan or if they added anything extra for flavor. I don’t know for certain that they understood the extent of the strictness of my diet. I’ll never know. I can just be content in their efforts to make me feel comfortable in their home. That’s really all I care about. I’d like to believe and I DO believe that my diet remained completely vegan throughout that entire stay.

Tips on remaining vegan in a foreign country

• Be optimistic. You’ve probably heard countless stories about people who have been “unable” to remain vegan or vegetarian in certain situations abroad. Dont get discouraged before you even try. Go into it with an open mind. It may be difficult, but it is possible.
• Speak up! Ask about ingredients. Don’t be afraid to tell people what you can and can’t eat. If you are going somewhere English is not spoken, learn (or write down) the words for eggs, milk, butter, cheese, dairy, meat, animal fat, chicken, beef, pork, gelatin, etc. in the language of your destination.
• Bring along some of your own food. You probably want to pack foods that travel well, such as granola bars, crackers, or nuts. It’s always good to have extra snacks in case it becomes difficult to find food you want.
• Use the internet. Search for vegan/vegetarian friendly restaurants and grocery stores near the area in which you will be staying. Plan out ahead of time how you are going to get there and pay for your food.

Being an intern at VRG has been a wonderful, eye-opening experience. I originally began working here to gain experience at a non-profit, and since VRG just happened to be local/support a cause I care deeply about, it was a perfect fit. As a lifelong vegetarian, I thought I knew all there was to know about the lifestyle, but through my work here I have become far more informed about vegetarianism, and particularly veganism.

I have started to read up on veganism a great deal on my own time, and have slowly begun to implement changes into my lacto-ovo diet, including, but not limited to, subbing almond milk for cream in my coffee, and giving vegan cheese a try (dairy cheese has always been my vice!).

My tasks here at VRG have been many and varied, and I look forward to observing their benefits in my future career, whatever it may be. I have done a great deal of writing, from blog posts to responding to scholarship entries, have tested and subsequently reviewed vegan products, worked at the VRG booth at VegFest, and even gave HTML a try!

All of these tasks, along with the many others I accomplished since January, have both added to my resume, and to my confidence in skills that will continue to serve me throughout my working life. Another feat I accomplished while working this internship was the planning of a dinner, along with another intern. I am extremely proud of the way it turned out – the dinner was quite a success, and gaining experience in event planning and managing was extremely fulfilling and will certainly be beneficial to me in the future.

I can’t thank VRG enough for taking me on as an intern for these past 5 months. I have greatly enjoyed working with everyone at the office, and also getting to know others involved with VRG. I feel that I have gained crucial knowledge related to nutrition, animal rights, and even the ways in which a vegetarian diet can help the world become a better place from an environmental and ethical standpoint. I hope to return to VRG upon my return to Baltimore in the fall, in order to learn even more and to continue to be of assistance in the wonderful work that they do!

For more information about VRG internships, see http://www.vrg.org/student/

To donate towards VRG internships, scholarships, and other projects, visit www.vrg.org/donate

SUBJECT: 2-3 page essay on any aspect of vegetarianism. Vegetarianism is not eating meat, fish, and birds (for example, chicken or duck). Among the many reasons for being a vegetarian are beliefs about ethics, culture, health, aesthetics, religion, world peace, economics, world hunger, and the environment.

Entrants should base their paper on interviewing, research, and/or personal opinion. You need not be a vegetarian to enter. All essays become the property of The Vegetarian Resource Group.

ENTRY CATEGORIES:

• A. Age 14-18.
• B. Age 9-13.
• C. Age 8 and under.

PRIZES: A $50 savings bond will be awarded in each category.

DEADLINE: Must be postmarked by May 1 for each current year of judging.

SEND ENTRIES TO: The Vegetarian Resource Group, PO Box 1463, Baltimore, MD 21203.

FAX: (410) 366-8804. Include your name, address, telephone number, age, grade, school, and teacher’s name.

Click here to read essays from past winners.