By Lucia Rivera, VRG Intern

Ever since I first became a vegetarian at the age of seven, I have aimed to balance that component of my lifestyle with everything else that was part of my day-to-day life. I wanted to make a difference beyond avoiding meat products in my diet, and luckily, I found an amazing opportunity to do so. By becoming a long-distance intern with The Vegetarian Resource Group, I opened up a new pathway of veggie activism for myself.

Since the VRG is centered in Baltimore, Maryland and I live in Southern California, my work with The VRG mainly consists of writing articles for the VRG Blog. Throughout the last four months I have completed many exciting assignments that are refreshing in comparison to my busy life as a high school junior. I am used to writing articles for my school’s student-run newspaper, but this internship gave me an opportunity to try out different styles of writing. For example, I enjoyed working an in-depth restaurant review of one of my favorite vegan restaurants, Native Foods. I had never written a piece like that and found that writing about an enjoyable eating experience practically allows one to savor a dish for a second time!

Additionally, I was able to share some insight on vegan diets for kids. I am very grateful that I was able to turn my own experiences into something helpful for others by sharing articles on a larger platform. This assignment also led me to reflect on my decisions and practices from over five years ago, reminding me of how I have grown since then. Many people adopt veganism or vegetarianism later on in life, but I find it important to reach specific audiences even if they are not the majority.

Similarly, I wrote an article about vegan options for Latinxs, both in English and in Spanish. This was an important piece to me because, not only was I able to spread information about vegetarianism, but I was able to hit a target audience of Latinx people and Spanish speakers. Since culture plays a large role in determining one’s diet, it makes sense to write about veganism for certain demographics. Due to this, I was very happy that I could play a role in outreach to the Latinx society.

Besides the writing projects I partook in, I was able to gain a general understanding of what an internship for a large group is like. While I never interacted with anyone in person for this internship, I was able to work on my communication skills, time management, and make use of my creativity. An example of this was when I was completing an article on vegan lunch ideas. I worked to make sure my writing was effective, accurate, and informative by going through several stages of emails and editing online. To then eventually see the final product of my article posted on the VRG Blog and Facebook Page was inspiring as it reassured me that not only was I improving my writing, but I was also producing helpful content for other vegetarians like me.

Throughout my work for VRG as a long-distance intern, I faced some challenges, but was happy to work to overcome them as part of my journey towards improving the world. As a high-schooler, I do not have as many options for activism as an autonomous and financially independent adult has. Writing, however, is definitely a way to share my experiences and promote healthy and caring lives to a wide audience, which I have been able to do thanks to the VRG.

For information about The Vegetarian Resource Group internships, see https://www.vrg.org/student/index.php