BY TORI HOCHENDONER
Staff Writers

Junior Jaycee Revo chose to become a vegetarian at a very young age.

“When I was 3, my dad told me what all the meat products were, and then I just stopped eating meat,” Revo said. “At first my parents didn’t believe me, but then they realized I was serious.”

Revo is among the students and staff who are vegetarians. Others are vegans, which means they do not eat any products that come from animals, and others are pescatarians, who do not eat meat but eat seafood.

Revo said that due to her vegetarian diet, she leads a healthier lifestyle than she would if she ate meat products.

“A definite pro is that I’m saving animals,” Revo said. “The only hard thing about it is that I have to make my own food, but I’ve been doing that for a while now so I’m used to it.”

The rest of Revo’s family does eat meat, but that has no effect on her diet since she makes her own meals.

Revo sticks to basic foods for her dinners, and usually has pasta, different kinds of vegetarian soups, and also veggie burgers.

Junior Yasmine Degnan chose to become a pescatarian when she was in sixth grade. Due to health problems she cannot be 100 percent vegetarian, she said.

One factor in her decision to not eat meat is that her mother lived on a farm where chickens were raised and killed.

“I understand how the industry works and where the meat comes from, but I just don’t think red meat is healthy in general,” Degnan said.

Degnan plans on eventually becoming a vegetarian, with the help of the many protein substitutes that are being created.

“The only con is that it is significantly expensive to be a vegetarian and obtain the protein substitutes,” Degnan said.

A teacher who has changed her diet is English teacher Michelle Jenkins, who recently became a vegetarian.

“I have been a vegetarian since November,” Jenkins said. “It has been a huge change for me, but I’m learning how to cook new things and I quickly adjusted to the challenge.”

Jenkins said she saw videos that opened her eyes to the ways animals are raised and slaughtered, making her decision an ethical one.

“I did a lot of research, and the videos I saw, as cliché as it sounds, changed my life. It was an immediate switch,” Jenkins said.

Luckily for students and staff who are vegetarian, there are options for those who buy lunch from the cafeteria.

“Currently we have vegetarian options daily, but before we add any more there will be a taste test for the students,” Food Service Director Joyce Weber said.

The cafeteria has also begun promoting a global movement called Meatless Mondays, which is featured in restaurants, hospitals, university food services, and is now expanding to K-12 food service.

The main entrée on Mondays is now vegetarian, although regular choices that students are able to obtain on a regular basis are still available.

“Our goal is to promote a healthier lifestyle by having our students eat a meatless entrée one day a week,” Weber said.