Posted November 29, 2012 by Rachelle Owen
By now, you probably get that peta2 is aimed at helping high school and college students speak up for animals, so you can imagine our excitement when we got our very own high school helper, Alejandro, who was chosen to come and help peta2 as part of a school project! Alejandro was here for a couple of months gaining experience to help him save animals and learn more about working in an office environment (although peta2 is definitely far from typical!). Check out this guest blog post all about his time in peta2! Take it away, Alejandro!
—Rachelle
*****
Hey, everyone! My name is Alejandro, and I’ve been helping in peta2 since late September. I found out about PETA during my freshman year in high school and was pretty excited to hear that PETA was going to be a part of my school’s mentorship program, where representatives from different organizations would come to our school and interview us for an opportunity to help out.
At first, I was pretty nervous, especially being interviewed in a tense atmosphere by people who were very serious. When it was my turn to be interviewed for PETA, I was thinking that this interview would be the same, but I was wrong. I was interviewed by Rachel and Rachelle, who are really awesome, and they made my interview pretty lively. This was probably the first interview where I was able to express myself freely.
Rachel and Rachelle were really fun and interesting to talk to. I got to learn how they started out in PETA and so much more. After the interviews, I realized that PETA was very interactive and more open compared to the other organizations’ interviews. Eventually, I was selected to help in peta2!
Upon arriving at PETA, I got to meet my mentor, Cody, who is really chill and cool to talk to. He started by giving me a tour of the Bob Barker Building, which is the name of PETA’s building in L.A. During the tour, I got to meet most of the PETA and peta2 staff, who are really friendly, and got a short summary of what they do in their daily routines in the office.
One of the things that I had to do was review and write down suggestions regarding peta2′s vegetarian/vegan starter kit. I also got to help out Rachelle with an event called “Hug a Vegetarian” Day. Your tasks in peta2 are very diverse, so you don’t get stuck doing one task, such as filing—which makes PETA very interesting and entertaining. I helped out at a few events, passed out leaflets to middle and high school students, took part in online activism, and researched different forms of cruelty to animals and where they are present in our society.
Being at PETA has changed me in the short course of two months. Before I came to PETA, I wasn’t very aware of the vegan lifestyle. I was aware only of what makes a person vegetarian or vegan. PETA was able to expose me to a variety of vegan meats and taught me about the nutritional benefits of going vegan. I got to try Tofurky sausages as well, which is a meatless sausage, and let me tell you that it is insanely good!!! It had much more flavor than ordinary sausage and had more than twice the amount of protein. I was surprised by how good it was.
I hope many of you who plan to intern at PETA get to experience the same things that I did—and even more! Whether you’re a meat-eater or not, the staff at PETA is very welcoming since they want to help you be aware of what’s happening to animals and how you can help contribute to this cause, not discourage you for who you are. Being at PETA has made me realize this, and I’m grateful for being able to help. Well, this is what my experience has been in a nutshell. Hope this encourages all of you future interns! Good luck!
peta2 Street Team Coordinator + lover of vegan food, cats, animal rights, Dawson's Creek, and Harry Potter.
Hello! My name is Nina, and I am a musician-in-training, and I play 7 instruments. I am a liberal, an LGBT activist, avid reader, composer, singer, and poi spinner. I am vegan, and a strong supporter of animal rights.
Born and raised in Mexico. I love vegan food and animals!
I was born in Canada and love peta2. I table every month and meet new people:older and younger. I love music and play the recorder. I'm a 6 year spelling bee champion. Again I love peta2!
I have always lived in Los Angeles but my family and I went to Mexico for my parents wedding. So we came back to LA. I don't like LA but were here already what can I do unless I move out and find my own housing. I have always liked animals and it was til I was like about 14 when I learned about tests they do on animals and I began to explore animal cruelty because I was interested it in it. I have watched videos that just broke my heart so that's why today I'm doing all I can to not buy anything that has harmed an animal and I'm vegetarian .
I'm tall, I love sewing, fashion and the environment, also I'm vegetarian (wannabe vegan.) Obviously, I love animals! :)
199 days ago
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lol…I love the “tour of the Bob Barker Building” video! I’d sooo love to work there!
Thanks for the article!
200 days ago
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I am very proud of you Alejandro and keep up the awesome work!!