By Danielle Choma and Carolyn Stoller, VRG Interns

The Vegetarian Resource Group offers several scholarships to high school seniors applying to their freshman year in college. To win the scholarship, applicants must fill out the appropriate forms and information and submit an essay explaining how they have contributed to veganism/vegetarianism and what it means to them. This blog analyzes the scholarship essay entries of ten applicants from 2003 and ten applicants from 2024.

The first 2003 applicant that we reviewed was written in a story-like format and right off the bat mentions Gandhi. Similarly, in three other 2003 essays, Gandhi was mentioned. This is interesting to note about Gandhi’s influence. Overall, it was found that the 2003 essays were written with a stronger skill set then the essays written in 2024. Paragraphs flowed better and were delivered in a more sophisticated manner. In addition to the stronger writing, the 2003 essays commonly mention how vegetarianism includes not buying, wearing, or using leather or wool. The 2024 essays do not mention the usage of different materials and fabric, but rather focus on the nutritional information surrounding the diet. This allows us to draw some conclusions about the individuals writing the essays in 2003. Maybe these individuals were more dedicated to the vegetarian/vegan lifestyle as they commonly, publicly promoted vegetarianism and all that it includes.

Furthermore, the 2003 entries explain their drive for becoming vegan stems from wanting to support environmental and animal rights causes. For example, one entry discusses that their drive for becoming vegan was when they organized the first animal rights workshop on factory farms. Other entries talked about the environmental impact of eating meat, such as “increasing carcinogens associated with red meat.” In addition, many of the 2003 entries also discussed that a challenge to overcome would be maintaining a vegan diet in college. One entry stated that they would overcome this challenge by promoting vegan and sustainable options themselves on the college campus they plan to attend. Referring back to the animal rights theme, many scholarship applicants stated that they would continue to collaborate with local organizations in college and beyond that amplify the needs of farm animals and the environmental damages caused by eating and packaging meat products.

As for the 2024 essay entries, overall, there was a common theme of nutrition driving the want for a vegan/vegetarian diet, as well as a love for animals. For the generation of 2024 high school seniors, maintaining a healthy diet is very important. As an example, one entry discussed how switching to a vegan diet not only helped their overall health but exponentially helped their athletic abilities in their respective high school sports. Overall, it was very inspiring to see that students in 2003 were just as dedicated to eating vegan, like the applicants today.

If we took a larger sample, we may have seen different comparisons. This is what an intern last year came up with in her comparison.  https://www.vrg.org/blog/2023/05/15/comparing-what-motivates-veganism-vegetarianism-now-vs-20-years-ago/

For more information about The Vegetarian Resource Group scholarships, see https://www.vrg.org/student/scholar.htm

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

To support VRG internships and scholarships, donate at www.vrg.org/donate