Pennsylvania and Utah Teens Each Receive A $5000 Vegetarian Resource Group Scholarship

Rebecca Pancoast became a vegetarian in 4th grade. When she was 14, she helped to establish a group that fed vegetarian meals to the homeless. A few years later, she became a core member of the sole vegetarian restaurant in her small Pennsylvania town. Though only in high school, she was trusted enough to open the business for the day, act as the head chef during some of her shifts, and close at night.

The Green Café was unable to find good quality locally produced vegan breads. Rebecca saw that as an opportunity to prove her commitment to the philosophy behind the restaurant. She became their primary bread maker on her own volunteer time. She also planned a vegetarian breakfast to bring in badly needed money during slow summer months and promotes the café at street fairs. Instead of going away for school, Rebecca has decided to attend a nearby college so that she can make sure this vegetarian restaurant thrives and continues to have impact upon her town.

When ex-hunter Jeremy Beckham turned vegan, he never looked back. He said up to the age of 15, he fished for sharks off the coast of Texas and hunted various birds and deer. After seeing a television program with a piece about hunting, he became an anti-hunting advocate and eventually converted to a vegan diet.

Young Jeremy had influence on his family, teachers, school, community, and even animal rights organizations. His mother became vegan, and together, they give presentations on vegetarianism with a PowerPoint presentation Jeremy developed.

His debate teacher stated, "...I argued with Jeremy for over a year about his indictment of my meat-eating style. Jeremy rebutted every position I put forth… Two months ago I made the decision to go vegan..."

Jeremy has set up tables at Moby and Goldfinger concerts, giving out Vegan Outreach vegetarian information. At school, he sold vegan sandwiches during a debate tournament, lectured health classes on vegetarianism, and committed to give similar presentations in future years. Jeremy even influenced a national animal rights group, prompting Showing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK) to also promote vegetarian issues.

For more information on the activities of these committed youth, see <www.vrg.org>.

Even though the scholarship application was extensive, VRG received about 200 great submissions from high school seniors who have promoted vegetarianism. The selection process was very difficult, as unfortunately we only are able to give out two awards. Congratulations to all the entrants for doing so much to make the world a better place.