During my first week in high school, I started an animal rights club. As a fourteen-year-old, I stood alone at the club fair, recruiting people older than me to join. The first project we took on was bringing more plant-based foods to the school cafeteria. By the end of my freshman year, we had started Meatless Mondays at the high school and designed lesson plans about the importance of plant-based eating that every high schooler in the district participated in. By the end of my sophomore year, we had expanded Meatless Mondays to every school in the district. We worked with a group of health teachers to revise the middle school wellness curriculum to include education about plant-based eating. By junior year, we had worked to guarantee access to full plant-based options at every school district-wide, and by senior year I had worked with the district to guarantee that a minimum of 50% of food served district-wide would be fully plant-based by 2027. I faced a vocal minority of students who opposed the expansion of plant-based options. However, I ended up collaborating with them to serve plant-based versions of the foods they already love.
During my sophomore year, I recruited students from up and down Eastern Massachusetts and as far west as Sturbridge to advocate for state-level legislation to expand access to plant-based food. We successfully established a commission to make recommendations pertaining to the availability of plant-based food in school cafeterias across the state. By junior year, I was working with a group of students who have successfully brought plant-based food to their school cafeterias, helping other students do the same. I’ve one-on-one mentored students as close as neighboring Arlington, MA, and as far away Houston, sharing the knowledge and skills I’ve acquired through my five years of plant-based advocacy.
You can see a video on Meatless Mondays produced by Ezra here: https://brooklineinteractive.org/meatless-mondays-promo
Support Young Veg Activists
To send support for additional scholarships and internships, donate at www.vrg.org/donate or call (410) 366-8343. You can send a donation to VRG, P.O. Box 1463, Baltimore, MD 21203. You can also donate via your stock donation, your IRA, or a bequest.
Do you know an amazing high school student promoting veganism? If so, let them know about our annual scholarship contest. The deadline for high school seniors is February 20th of each year. To see scholarship rules and past winners, visit www.vrg.org/student/scholar