2018 Scholarship Winners
Natalia Gosiaco, Hawaii
Natalia Gosiaco works at a vegetarian restaurant. The owner said she continuously excelled the past three years, providing excellent customer service and always showing up on time. (One of the biggest hurdles for restaurants and groups is to find hard-working long-term employees who always show up.) The owner reported that Natalia also "made important contributions to our business by offering some of her vegan recipes, which we sometimes added to our specials menu. She has certainly been a gem in our organization." Another employee mentioned how Natalia kept her "kind demeanor even during high-stress peak hours." Natalia said for the restaurant she developed "a chocolate soft serve flavor by pouring a mixture of bananas, coconut milk, dark chocolate, and cacao powder into our soft serve machine. It is served with granola, papaya, banana, and macadamia nuts. I have also baked small treats, including vegan cookies and muffins that can be sold in the front by the cash register."
When Natalia Gosiaco and her friend went vegan, they decided to create the first vegan club at their high school. The Vegan Club's advisor said "Natalia took initiative to organize two formal assemblies at our school inviting a well known vegan activist ... to speak about veganism and the environment. Natalia single-handedly proposed the guest speaker to the administration, completed all necessary paperwork, and organized the logistics. These two assemblies reached 800 students."
Additionally, this past fall, Natalia helped organize healthy vegan alternatives during a bake sale to raise funds for victims of Hurricane Maria and Hurricane Harvey. The club advisor added, at the school's annual spring fair, "Natalia and her co-president created a first-ever vegan snack option featuring Tofu Poke. It was a huge success and many people came up afterwards to share how exciting it was to have not only a healthy alternative (compared to cotton candy, hot dogs, etc.), but also a vegan option." Natalia received an email from the head of student life at her high school regarding the sample vegetarian menu she created. The student life head is speaking to Sodexo food service about incorporating more vegan options in the cafeteria.
Natalia wrote that she planned her fully vegan graduation party, featuring vegan Hawaiian food for over 150 people. The menu was Lau lau, Luau, mock chicken long rice, mock lomi salmon haupia, poi; "all of which are delicious traditional Hawaiian foods that we made vegan."
Her perfect future life will be to own a vegan restaurant that offers breakfast and lunch, with a farm where all the vegetables could be harvested, from farm to table. Natalia plans to study nutrition and business, which will allow her to continue to stay involved in the movement. In college, she will work with a vegan caterer, and with a friend she is starting a business delivering vegan ingredients in a box to households so they can easily prepare vegan meals.
Elise Donovan, New Hampshire
At 13, after Elise Donovan went to a restaurant with her dad, and saw "pig carcasses," she decided to become a vegetarian. She then entered an eighth grade essay contest, "putting more hours into that essay than any homework assignment I had ever completed." Her hard work paid off and she had the opportunity to present a speech on vegetarianism to her whole school at an assembly at the end of 8th grade.
Elise said, "I took to my next task: providing more options for vegetarians. Having grown up with an involved mom who packed my lunches almost every day, I was not often restricted to a non-personal defined menu. This was not the case for a large majority of kids at my school, so I made the executive decision to contact my principal to institute veggie burgers as a daily staple for those hoping to make a meatless choice. With the help of PETA, I worked to craft an email that expressed my concern with the options in the cafeteria… Veggie Burgers were added to my middle school menu. While I was only there for a year to see the effect, I received some statistics from my food coordinator. Initially the veggie burgers were not received well due to younger kids' usual distaste for new foods, but they have since extended their menu. Apart from veggie burgers they are providing salads and different sandwiches daily. Additionally, a vegan/vegetarian main meal entrée is sold daily, which sells at around 10 meals daily. While still low, it's a great step forward since the lack of options when I attended."
In high school, Elise continued her efforts. "I aided the cafeteria at my high school with a daily vegan station, fully equipped with vegan-friendly soups, sandwiches, and meals... Every day a vegan special is announced, and it has since attracted many people. These meals range from eggplant and vegan cheese sandwiches, to tofu and vegetable stir-fry and much more. Statistically, my food director told me that they sell over 25 meals a day, with some particular meals selling more than 50 in a day. To institute this new subsection of our menu, some other classmates and I in my student council expressed our want for more options, and were given the opportunity to taste test different meals," she said.
Elise hopes to study International Relations and Environmental Studies in college.
Maggie Salter, Oregon
Maggie Salter started on her path to vegetarianism at 10 years old, when she learned about the "secrets hidden behind pristinely packaged animal products."
In her freshman year of high school, Maggie became part of an animal rights club. She and others in the club met students from a different high school with similar interests. Maggie said, "We were all strangers, connected only by our passion for animals and a hope to be part of something bigger than ourselves." Because they felt there was a lack of support for young people, they formed Youth for the Voiceless. Maggie was co-chair of the communications team. Maggie stated, "From going to animal rights marches and protests — and being the only person there under 30... it was obvious we had a job to do as young adults and advocates to fill the gap."
The advisor to the club said, "Without question, Maggie, a Youth For the Voiceless co-founder and board member, has served an absolutely crucial role in the evolution, growth, and increased momentum of this public charity. Simply said, YFV would not be where it is today without her... Whether tasked with determining best social media practices for a new non-profit to engaging in a conversation about how to most effectively conduct youth outreach, Maggie tackles every challenge with both logic and creativity, a rare combination and a true illustration of Maggie's incredible aptitude."
One of Maggie's insights was when she went to her first vigil over the summer where they were bearing witness for cows on their way to slaughter. She stated, "All I can remember was watching all these activists with the best intentions run up to the truck, trying to get up to the front to take pictures and videos... It began to remind me of a zoo. I know these pictures and videos were to document the animals' suffering, the hands poking through the bars were all intended to show compassion, and all the tears shed were out of love, but these animals had already been through so much, and they've only known the worst of humans. So isn't it reasonable to believe they'd be afraid of us? Now don't get me wrong. I didn't write this to take anything away from bearing witness or the activists that go, because they are genuinely some of the strongest people out there, but when done in the wrong ways, I think we can accidentally cause more distress than comfort... I write this 'to show that we might not all have the same experience, and that we might not all take away the same thing... You can't base what you're supposed to feel or think on someone else's experience. Take everything with a grain of salt because it's okay to feel things differently from someone else. Lastly, I just want you to remember we are there for the animals... so we need... to not get wrapped up in what we think we're supposed to be doing.'"
Because of organizing vegan taste tests at her high school for non-vegetarian/vegan kids to see how good vegan food really can be, and her experiences in Youth For the Voiceless, creating content, helping to design the website, and working on their social media presence, Maggie hopes to continue being part of the movement after college by studying communications.
She says, "This scholarship would help me pursue my dreams to continue being an activist for years to come and allow me to get an education that can help me achieve my goals."
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The deadline for the next Vegetarian Resource Group scholarship contest for high school seniors is February 20, 2019. For more information, please see: www.vrg.org/student/scholar.
More than 300 students entered the scholarship contest this year. In our mind, all are winners.
If you would like to sponsor additional scholarships of any amount, please donate at www.vrg.org/donate; mail to The Vegetarian Resource Group, P.O. Box 1463, Baltimore, MD 21203; or call (410) 366-8343.
