What Are Past VRG Interns Doing Today?
by Julia Comino and Shantika Bhat
In honor of The VRG's 40th anniversary, we interviewed a few of our many past interns.
Ivy Grob was an Eleanor Miltimore Wolff intern for The Vegetarian Resource Group in 2015 and said her time with The VRG was "a great experience and very formative for the rest of my college experience and career." Since interning, Grob graduated from the University of Florida, where she was active in the Student Animal Alliance, and is presently pursuing her master's degree in entomology. Currently, she is working to promote the health of pollinators and wetland habitats. She hopes to have a career in education teaching elementary school students about scientific concepts involving insects before pursuing a PhD. Grob has continued her activism by sharing homemade vegan dishes with her colleagues and friends. Grob's suggestions for prospective VRG interns: "The best advice is to enjoy it! Meet and talk to lots of people, and don't be afraid to speak up! And be proud of putting yourself out there!"
Alicia Huckmann, an intern in 2016, finished her master's degree in linguistics and started a new job at the University of Ludwigsburg in Germany as a researcher and PhD student. She specializes in linguistics, orthography, and teaching German as a foreign language. "My experience with The VRG really set the ball rolling, when I met so many amazing people who were living their best lives fighting for the things they believe in. To me, it was incredible to learn that The VRG was founded at a time when vegetarianism (let alone veganism) was still an extremely unconventional and under-researched lifestyle." Huckmann's advice to interns is to make the most of your experience and seize all the opportunities you're offered. "For some of you, your internship with The VRG will be the first time you get to experience true independence from your parents, who you are as a person, and what you are capable of doing by yourself, if given the chance. In my opinion, there is no better place for this experience than The VRG family. They genuinely care about you as a person, support you, and always believe in you. That's a rare thing to find in the workplace, especially when it comes to interns."
Laura McGuiness, an intern in 2013, is now an archivist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Since her internship, McGuiness has earned her bachelor's degree in English and master's in library and information science. Thinking back on her time with The VRG, McGuiness appreciated the freedom that VRG Coordinators Charles Stahler and Debra Wasserman gave her over her projects and the chance to learn from those projects. She also shared her appreciation for The VRG's fact-based reporting, as she believes that "referring people to reliable resources that acknowledge bias/attempt to rid themselves of bias is the best course of action." She urges current and future interns to "enjoy this time and make as many connections as possible!"
Whitney McVerry interned at The VRG in 2013, before graduating from Towson University. Since her internship McVerry has used the skills she learned with The VRG in jobs such as marketing at a vegan company, owning a small business, working in senior companionship, being a personal assistant, and doing government contracting. She explained that her time with The VRG gave her a better understanding of veganism and why individuals decide to switch to this diet, and also placed her into a network of individuals who have been beneficial to her career. McVerry lives in southern Maryland with her husband and twin vegan daughters, and has continued to volunteer with The VRG by working booths, creating email newsletters, reading scholarship essays, and speaking on her vegan pregnancy and children's diets with University of Maryland dietetic interns. Her advice to prospective VRG interns is to "take your assignments seriously and put forth your best effort! You may be able to use the projects you complete during your internship as resume builders, writing samples, and resource documents in the future."
Shun Shueh, an intern in 2019, is an engineering undergrad at the University of Maryland. Currently, Shueh is pursuing opportunities that will teach her valuable engineering techniques and general interpersonal skills. Her internship experience at VRG exposed her to a strongly passionate community and inspired her to think more critically about the types of activism she should consider. "At the time, vegetarianism was relatively new to me, and it was an interesting experience to hear other people discuss vegetarianism." During her time at UMD, she joined an environmental justice group. "There are certainly connections between vegetarianism and environmental justice, as many of the environmental consequences of animal agriculture (such as climate change and pollution from CAFOs) are disproportionately burdening minority communities." Shueh tells future interns, "It's an opportunity to develop skills, but also an opportunity to explore vegetarianism, activism through education, sample various vegetarian food products, and more!"
Julia Stanitski, an intern in 2020, finished her degree at the University of Delaware. Since her internship, she has been spending time with her friends and family. She loved her experience at The VRG. "I learned so much about veganism, and a lot about the role veganism plays specifically in my community, too. It impacted my career because I discovered there are jobs in which I can promote vegan and vegetarian eating, something I'm passionate about and would love a job doing." Her advice for future interns is "get as many resources from VRG Coordinator Charles as you can! He has so much experience, knows so many people, and has so much knowledge about the vegan career field. You can really learn from him!"
For information about VRG internships, see: www.vrg.org/student/index.php
To support The Vegetarian Resource Group internships, donate at vrg.org/donate or mail to The Vegetarian Resource Group, P.O. Box 1463, Baltimore, MD 21203.
