My freshman year of high school I quickly discovered how limited plant-based options at school were. I had to do something about it. I found the federal plant-based school food advocacy coalition, where I currently serve as vice-chair. Throughout my time there, I helped lead a USDA listening session with USDA officials, advocating for lessening restrictions on incorporating sustainable, nutritious plant-based foods into school cafeterias and federal institutions. As an Asian-American, 90% of us are lactose-intolerant, yet milk is mandated to be placed on our trays at school, with no plant-based milk options.

In further efforts to reduce restrictions to environmentally-friendly nutritious food, I have been collaborating with my school’s cafeteria for over 3 years to implement more vegan options in the lunch lines. At the time, the only vegan option my school had was a PB&J. This year, my cafeteria staff and I were able to add a veggie grill with a new vegan option every day. It has vegan chicken nuggets, buffalo wings, and a black bean burger. There’s also a new side option of fiesta black beans. They are the first plant-based options the cafeteria has offered that has lasted more than one semester. The vegan options are official entrées, so they are covered under reduced lunch. Fortunately, soymilk is served at my school (one of not many schools in the country). But it is treated as an ala carte menu item, so it’s not able to be reimbursed by the National School Lunch program. Thus, students who choose soymilk have to pay extra. Unfortunately, unless non-dairy milk is able to be reimbursed to schools through federal policy, it won’t be an option at schools alongside dairy milk for the same price. The ADD SOY act was one of the bills that would make soymilk more accessible for students that I talked to legislators about last summer.

We did a taste test last spring with several other options like a chickpea wrap, tofu fried rice, teriyaki tofu wrap, pasta with meatless crumbles, and nachos with meatless crumbles. However, since our school cafeteria is mostly heat and serve with over 5,400 students, the only options that would be sustainable on the menu were the ones we currently have.

Recently, I’ve been the first student speaker at Indy VegFest, where I gave a presentation on centering student voices in plant-based advocacy. Additionally, I am an intern at Balanced (a nonprofit that advocates for plant-based foods in institutional spaces), and have created a youth-advocacy guide to help others make changes to promote plant-based foods in their communities. Last summer I went to Capitol Hill to meet with congressional office, USDA FNS & AMS, and executives from the White House. I lobbied for bills that would provide schools with funding to serve foods with every student’s needs and ethical preferences. This past year, I’ve founded an organization—Plant-based Peers—to help other students change their cafeteria menus as well.

I was accepted to present at the Animal and Vegan Advocacy conference on “How to Empower Youth in the Vegan Movement,” and I was part of the planning committee for a student-led plant-based conference at Harvard. I also want to mention that I first found out about this scholarship last year from looking for vegetarian scholarships on Google, and reached out to one of the previous winners (Angelina Schapiro) because I was really interested in her work she mentioned on the website. I connected with her last summer, and she was one of my main inspirations in applying to Stanford. When I visit, I’ll be staying in her dorm. I wouldn’t have connected with Angelina if not for this scholarship and The VRG website, so I am extremely grateful, and wanted to say thanks for connecting youth.

I intend to study human biology or earth systems, with a focus on nutrition and sustainable food systems. In college and beyond, I’m excited to keep pushing for more healthful and sustainable menus, and working towards a more just, plant-forward food system for all.

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To send support for additional scholarships and internships, donate at www.vrg.org/donate or call (410) 366-8343. You can also send a donation to VRG, P.O. Box 1463, Baltimore, MD 21203.