Arpi wrote, “Knowing that millions of animals are suffering and being killed in factory farms each year, just to be served as school lunches that would usually be left uneaten, completely broke my heart. I knew that something had to change … I decided to create a plant-based survey and send it out to students across my school district. In this survey, I questioned if the student would want to have more plant-based options, what plant-based meals they are interested in, and what their reasoning was behind their answer. I then used ArcGIS (an online mapping application) to create a dashboard displaying the survey results. I included bar graphs, pie charts, and maps to demonstrate the percentage of students who wanted vegan and/or vegetarian options and I displayed where the data was gathered from with the use of a pie chart and a map. I then set up a zoom meeting with my school’s nutritional services director where I pitched my idea and used my survey and dashboard results as evidence that our school district had a clear demand for more plant-based options.” Arpi’s reference stated: “She got the whole district food services administration to join Zoom, and led the meeting, presenting fact based data to support incorporating vegan options on a regular basis for school meals. Our district food services director was so impressed with the work she had done researching affordable vegan options for our lunch and snack menu that she thanked Arpi for doing the survey saying that data does make a difference, and asked her to send her the data collected from her survey. Through her efforts the food service director did commit to including falafel, soymilk, fruit parfaits, and other vegan items to the school menu.”

Additionally, to further encourage vegetarianism in her community, Arpi partnered with the Factory Farming Awareness Coalition to represent them at her high school’s AP environmental science courses. As a guest speaker, she spoke to two classrooms regarding the ethical and environmental issues linked with factory farming. In addition, she also created a quick-and-easy vegan recipe tutorial on her school’s tv show, Quarter Past Clark.

For her senior thesis, Arpi did a paper on food subsidies. She plans to focus her career around advocating for and creating new food-based policies in the United States. She said, “Major topics that I am interested in are transitioning governmental food subsidies away from animal agriculture towards fruit and vegetable farms. … I believe that in order to further spread the vegan and vegetarian movements, it is essential to stay compassionate in all aspects of life, by treating everyone with kindness, both humans and nonhuman animals alike.” Arpi will be attending UC San Diego for a political science and public policy major, with a minor in climate change studies.

The deadline for the next Vegetarian Resource Group scholarship contest for high school seniors graduating in 2022 is February 20, 2022. To see rules and past scholarship winners, visit vrg.org/student/scholar.htm

To support additional scholarships and internships, donate at vrg.org/donate, call (410) 366-8343, or send donations to VRG, P.O. Box 1463, Baltimore, MD 21203.