A Sweet Way to Help Animals in School

Don’t you wish you had a captive audience to discuss cruelty free living with? I know I do! If you’re still in shool, then you’re lucky enough to have that captive audience every time you do a class presentation. (And I can’t say I’m not a little jealous!)

I recently had the pleasure of reminiscing on my school days when I was asked to do a talk at a school in Caroline Springs. Hayley Walker an awesome year 11 student organised to do a presentation to her class about the treatment of animals and why she is vegan. Not only did she have good props (like our Darren Cordeux video on factory farming and a battery cage), but Hayley and her mother spent the Sunday afternoon beforehand cooking up loads of vegan food that she could bring in to class.

I met Hayley a few years ago whilst tabling at the Taste of Chaos concert in Melbourne and I handed her a leaflet and wrote "Be cool, go veg." And she did! Two years later she is a star activist, who is talking to her class about the treatment of animals, and handing out lots of delicious vegan food (including felafels, chocolate mousse, jelly, cupcakes with oreo frosting, rice paper rolls, etc).

As someone who has to do a lot of public speaking, it's easy to forget how hard it is to take that first step. So you can see why Hayley deserves to be in my hero's section on myspace for bravely standing up in front of her whole class, and talking about society's treatment of animals.

If you’re still in school, then make the most of class presentations and inform your classmates about something you care about. As school is a learning environment, it’s an ideal place to do such a talk, and like Hayley, show people how great the alternatives to eating animals are. Looking back on how great her presentation was, I wish that I had used my time at school more effectively to help animals. When I was walking out of the school, I asked Hayley "What's next on your agenda?" and she said "Veganising my canteen." Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.

If you're planning a talk at your school and have questions, send us an email. We’re always happy to help! Or if you want it straight from the horse's mouth (so to speak), send Hayley a message and ask her a few questions about what she did to organise the talk. No doubt you’ll get good grades if you’re speaking about something you know and care about and who knows you might even score some kudos on the Unleashed blog!

Have you done any school presentations on animal issues? How did it go? Have you got any tips for others? Leave a comment below…

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