An increasing amount of students at Milford are either vegetarian or vegan. Vegetarianism is when you don’t eat any animal meat like steak, chicken, or fish. Veganism is when you don’t eat any meat, dairy, eggs, or anything that comes from an animal like leather. Many of the students stated that they do it for the animals, and the more research they did, they gained more reasons to be vegetarian/vegan. There’s plenty of benefits of  it, and even more reasons to do it.

“I didn’t like the way they treated the animals in farm factories,” senior Becca Rea stated. Many of the animals are killed with fear in their eyes, and treated like they don’t feel pain. Senior Irie Jaynes makes a point about how they treat the animals, “if someone treated dogs the same way people treat farm animals, they would be arrested for animal abuse.” Senior Mackenzie Hewitt added that “All the chemicals and GMO’s involved in the meat industry are also disgusting along with the treatment of the animals.”

A common misconception about going vegetarian or vegan is that it’s hard, but students beg to differ. Claire Sysko, senior, doesn’t think it was difficult at all. “It’s not hard when you have the knowledge of what actually goes into your food,”  said Sysko. “Once you realize the suffering and what goes into some foods, they don’t seem worth it or sound good.”

Another misconception is that people need meat to survive and that vegetarians or vegans only eat salad. “That can’t be further from the truth” said Jaynes. “It’s sad considering all the delicious vegan food there is,” Claire Sysko said. “You don’t have to eat animal products for something to taste good, there’s always meat alternatives that actually taste good.”

The only thing vegetarians and vegans need to worry about, as well as anyone else, is getting the right amount of nutrients. They don’t get their protein or calcium from meats or milk, so they just have to replace it with other foods such as vegetables and legumes which are full of proteins and calcium as well as other nutrients. “The only thing you can’t get from meat is B12 which I get from daily supplements” states Claire.

Many Milford students care about their health and the animals. Not only have all of them been vegetarian or vegan for 6 months or more, but they have also influenced their friends and family to care about what they put in their body. Claire Sysko adds, “To me I am just a normal teenager who made a decision to stand up for something I believe in.”