Ananya was raised in a vegetarian family and became vegan at the age of six. She and her brother began a club called Save Our Earth, which was dedicated to protecting animal rights and human rights. Her reference said she started volunteering for the Utah Animal Rights Coalition when she was 12 years old, and each year had been an integral, regular, and reliable volunteer for their annual VegFest. When she was 14, she spoke at VegFest on a panel comprised of vegan kids. She also helped spread the word about the event by doing promotional interviews with the media. In 2021 she volunteered at the UARC festival booth, juggling the tasks of serving prepared food, selling merchandise, accepting donations, and responding to problems.

Ananya has volunteered for a program feeding the homeless since 2016, and has helped cooked vegan meals for homeless youth. Though not formally in charge because of age and liability, she planned menus, purchased ingredients, and helped oversee activities. Ananya is also a triathlete. When she has participated in overnight camps for this community, she has pushed administrators in charge of these camps to ensure that they provide nutritious vegan meals as an option. She also joined in a live broadcast with Globeracers, an India-based platform for runners and athletes, where she talked about being a vegan athlete. When she first started competing, she and her brother were the only vegans. They encouraged and inspired other athletes to eliminate meat from their diets. She said people are beginning to realize that one can compete at the elite level without consuming animal protein.

Ananya’s future goal is to help us find ways to inhabit other planets by studying Astro-biology and data sciences, to continue to fight for the planet we currently have, and also continue to be a voice for the animals. She believes it is important for those who believe in animal rights to be present in this emerging field in order to encourage an ethical worldview, which centers the importance of sentience and kindness towards beings not like us.

For information on other winners and applying for the next Vegetarian Resource Group college scholarship contest, see: https://www.vrg.org/student/scholar.htm

Deadline is February 20th of each year.

To support additional VRG scholarships and internships, donate at www.vrg.org/donate, call (410) 366-8343, or mail contribution to The Vegetarian Resource Group, P.O. Box 1463, Baltimore, MD 21203.