{"id":26570,"date":"2026-04-27T10:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T14:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/?p=26570"},"modified":"2026-04-06T12:41:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T16:41:06","slug":"smriti-mehta-from-california-wins-1000-vegetarian-resource-group-2026-scholarship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/2026\/04\/27\/smriti-mehta-from-california-wins-1000-vegetarian-resource-group-2026-scholarship\/","title":{"rendered":"SMRITI MEHTA FROM CALIFORNIA WINS $1,000 VEGETARIAN RESOURCE GROUP 2026 SCHOLARSHIP"},"content":{"rendered":"
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photo by Studio One Photography<\/p><\/div>\n

Smriti said, \u201cAs I stared at the chicken curry on my plate, flashes of cramped cages at my grandparents\u2019 farm (was) running through my mind. In that moment my relationship with food changed \u2026 I chose veganism because it aligns with my values of minimizing harm, respecting animals as sentient beings, and reducing environmental impacts.\u201d Smriti said she joined her district\u2019s nutrition committee and helped introduce overnight oats to the breakfast menu. \u00cd wrote and illustrated a children\u2019s book about nutrition and compassionate eating, then read it in elementary classrooms to more than 500 students … In college and beyond, I plan to promote veganism through systems rather than slogans. I intend to study nutrition and public policy to address structural barriers that make plant-based eating inaccessible for many families.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

The deadline for the VRG scholarship contest for high school seniors is February 20th<\/sup> of each year. For details, and to see other winners, go to\u00a0 <\/span>https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/student\/scholar.htm<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

To support VRG\u2019s outreach to young people, donate at <\/span>vrg.org\/donate<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Join at <\/span>https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/member\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Smriti said, \u201cAs I stared at the chicken curry on my plate, flashes of cramped cages at my grandparents\u2019 farm (was) running through my mind. In that moment my relationship with food changed \u2026 I chose veganism because it aligns with my values of minimizing harm, respecting animals as sentient beings, and reducing environmental impacts.\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26570"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26572,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26570\/revisions\/26572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}