STORY BY: JONATHAN WOLF

Vegan Voices is an organization for UA Students interested in the vegan or vegetarian lifestyle. Many of the members have their own reasons for being vegan, and this group has offered a great opportunity to share their ideas and bond with a welcoming, friendly group of people!

Grace Dorsey, President of Vegan Voices was asked what she personally got out of the club. She responded, “Vegan Voices has been amazing to meet friends and connect with other students who think and live in the same way I do, but also it’s been great interacting with the general student population to hopefully change attitudes and opinions about vegans.” She was also asked why she was personally vegan. She said, “I’m vegan because it just makes sense with my values. I believe in animal welfare and preserving the environment. By choosing alternatives than don’t support factory farming, I’m effectively voting against those practices with my dollar. Also, I just love animals.”

William Wolf, Treasurer and outstanding member of Vegan Voices of four years, first found the animal rights student organization at Get on Board Day his freshman year. He says, “They weren’t any more than a few students with some painted boxes. They didn’t even have a table. I saw other kids with long hair and stayed for their message.” Since then, William has adopted a fully plant-based diet and says he is more conscious with his lifestyle choices. He says, “By having a fun group of friends coming into college, I was gradually able to realize that food entirely affects our choice of attitude and that it just makes more sense [to eat] this way—for yourself and for animals.” He has since lost fifty pounds and has completed Ironman distance triathlons.

Mason Serna, Vice President and Food and Nutrition major was asked to give some advice to someone interested in going vegan but not completely sold on the idea. He responded, “Make small changes in your diet over time. Don’t do everything all at once. These small changes can make large, cumulative effects. Even if you can never go 100 percent, it’s still a whole lot better than not trying.” Mason also was asked, what makes veganism a healthy lifestyle. He responded, “From a nutrition standpoint, you can actually be a really unhealthy vegan.” In order to eat healthy and live healthy, Mason said that a plant-based diet centered around whole, unprocessed foods is ideal. “A whole, plant-based diet with foods such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, lentils, and whole grains is helpful in preventing a number of diseases such as colon cancer, diabetes, heart attacks, and hypertension.”