{"id":17732,"date":"2021-07-27T09:00:03","date_gmt":"2021-07-27T13:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/?p=17732"},"modified":"2021-07-02T14:02:56","modified_gmt":"2021-07-02T18:02:56","slug":"my-experience-as-an-eleanor-miltimore-wolff-virtual-intern-with-the-vegetarian-resource-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/2021\/07\/27\/my-experience-as-an-eleanor-miltimore-wolff-virtual-intern-with-the-vegetarian-resource-group\/","title":{"rendered":"My Experience as an Eleanor Miltimore Wolff Virtual Intern with The Vegetarian Resource Group"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Julia Comino, VRG Intern<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having grown up in a small, southern town in Mississippi, I had never\nexperienced being a part of a community of individuals who were as passionate\nabout plant-based living and environmental justice as I was until I began my\ninternship with The Vegetarian Resource Group. Within my first week of\nvirtually interning with The VRG, my relationship with advocacy and how I view\nmy choice to be a vegetarian evolved immensely. After just a few email\nexchanges with Charles Stahler, the co-founder and co-director of The VRG who I\nworked with closely throughout my internship, I found myself re-evaluating how\nI viewed veganism and vegetarianism. When I made the decision to switch to a\nvegetarian diet four years ago, I did so rather nonchalantly. I saw this\ndecision as a simple switch toward a more sustainable lifestyle. I stand by my\nreasoning for my initial choice, but now, after learning about the history of\nthe veganism movement, discussing the positive effects of vegan and vegetarian\ndiets on one\u2019s health and the environment, and becoming a part of a community\nof plant-based individuals during this internship, I value my vegetarian\nlifestyle so much more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I can say in all honesty that I have enjoyed every assignment I have worked on throughout my internship. The first project that I worked on was writing a review of a restaurant in my town that served vegan options. I chose Petra Caf\u00e9 \u00a0a small Mediterranean and Greek restaurant in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Not only was the food I ordered delicious, but my first experience of writing for The VRG Blog was invigorating<\/ins>. As someone who hopes to pursue a career in journalism, I appreciated this chance to not only view but experience the editing process and gain a better understanding of what it takes to compose a well-written and well-researched published piece. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     In my second week of\ninterning I had the opportunity to participate in The VRG\u2019s Zoom seminar with\nProfessor Phyllis McShane\u2019s class of University of Maryland dietetic students. I\nable to listen in on Dr. Reed Mangels\u2019 (The VRG nutrition advisor and\nregistered dietitian), Charles Stahler\u2019s, and others\u2019 riveting presentations on\nveganism and nutrition, and I also had the chance to speak about my experience\nas a plant-based teenager. After joining in for the day of presentations,\nconversation, and sharing information on veganism, I wrote about this\nexperience in The VRG Blog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     However, my writing skills\nare not the only ones this internship has improved. Over the course of my\ninternship, I\u2019ve improved my baking skills and spoiled my friends and family\nwith sweet treats while testing out vegan recipes for the Vegetarian Journal<\/em> like the Cold Brew Coffee Cake, my high school\nmock trial team\u2019s favorite that became highly requested, and Hot Cocoa Brownies.\nWhether it be creating info-graphics to reviewing vegan products for Veggie\nBits, working with Rissa Miller, the senior editor of Vegetarian Journal<\/em> magazine, was always a joy because of her\ncheerful personality that showed even over email. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     One of the characteristics\nof this internship that I appreciated the most was the freedom and creativity\nthat I was allowed to have with the projects I worked on. While working with\nDr. Reed Mangels for the TEEN FAQ blog, I was able to not only write an article\nsharing my experience of eating vegan as a low-income teenager but also was\nencouraged to create other forms of media. I designed a graphic for The VRG\u2019s\nsocial media as well as created a video that would share this information. I\nworked with The VRG staff to write an outline, choose recipes, and research\nlow-cost foods for this visual presentation before setting up my phone camera\nand going to film. I was able to share tips on how to make eating plant-based\ndiets affordable while showcasing some of my favorite cheap recipes like peanut\nbutter banana oatmeal and my fruit cobbler in a mug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Writing for the VRG Online Restaurant\nGuide has been one of my favorite responsibilities of this internship. I\nlearned how to effectively and quickly gather information through skimming\nwebsites, reviews, and Facebook pages or when this online snooping was not\nenough I turned to contacting restaurants myself. Writing short, catchy\nsnippets on vegan restaurants, from taco dive bars to youth-owned vegan\nbakeries, was not only very fun, but surprisingly productive as my researching\nskills have definitely improved. I loved the feeling of accomplishment I had\nevery time I would send Debra Wasserman, the Co-Coordinator of The Vegetarian\nResource Group, a finished snippet on a restaurant. I also had the chance to\nwork with Debra when writing a review on The\nStudent Vegan Cookbook<\/em>. I, again, was able to improve both my writing and\nmy skills in the kitchen with this project as I tried out the recipes for Carrot Cake Oatmeal <\/em>and Cilantro Kale Salad<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     I also had the chance to\ncollaborate with another intern, Shantika Bhat, during my internship. Shantika,\na senior in high school from Baltimore, Maryland, and I worked together on\ninterviewing past VRG interns for next year\u2019s 40th-anniversary edition of the Vegetarian Journal<\/em>. Not only did this\nexperience teach me how to work with others in a virtual setting, but I also\ngained a new friend in Shantika. Through two of my projects for The VRG Blog, The Favorite Inexpensive Vegan Foods of 2021\nSummer Interns, <\/em>and The VRG 2021\nInterns Favorite Vegan Foods, <\/em>I was able to connect with the other summer\ninterns. Although our conversations were conducted over email, I was able to\nlearn about and befriend several of the interns I interviewed for this project.\nAlthough my internship was conducted remotely, without ever having met any of\nThe VRG staff or the other interns in person, I have still been able to have\nproductive and interesting conversations ranging from veganism to dialects as well\nas form long lasting relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     I am truly sad that my\ninternship with The VRG is coming to an end, but I can\u2019t help but be\noverwhelmed with gratitude for all that I have learned while interning. My time\ninterning with The VRG has not only improved my skills as a writer but also as\nan advocate. As I pursue an education in Journalism and Political Science at\nAmerican University this fall, I know I will take all I learned from this\nexperience with me!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For information about The\nVegetarian Resource Group internships, see https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/student\/index.php<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To support VRG internships,\ndonate at www.vrg.org\/donate<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or join at https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/member\/cabdacae.php<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

See some of Julia Comino\u2019s projects at:<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How to Start a Charity Garden at Your Local School<\/a><\/blockquote>