West Springfield High School Newspaper

The Oracle

West Springfield High School Newspaper

The Oracle

West Springfield High School Newspaper

The Oracle

Animal activist among us

For sophomore Beth Lindenblad, fitting in has never been important; thus, she is not fazed by the potential disagreements from her peers who don’t buy into the vegetarian lifestyle the way she does.

Lindenblad, who became a vegetarian because of her extreme love for animals, finds herself the odd one out at home, too, because she is the one who follows vegetarianism  in her family.

The sophomore is grateful for her family’s unconditional love; they fully support her choice. But even with family support, life as a vegetarian can still get tricky.

“I have to make my own dinner and ordering at restaurants is always a challenge,” said Lindenblad.

Story continues below advertisement

Lindenblad exercises the art of balance almost to perfection, and is even considering turning her passion for animals into a career after college.

“I am aware of the animal abuse and cruelty,” said Lindenblad, “but I don’t let my love for animals and my vegetarian beliefs control my life.”

Although the meat-eating lifestyle change is taxing for some, becoming a vegetarian at the age of thirteen was not a difficult decision for Lindenblad.

“I never really liked meat and I never squished bugs to begin with. So becoming a vegetarian was fairly easy,” she said.

Taking her love for animals to the next level, Lindenblad wants to start volunteering at an animal shelter and becoming more active in the fight against animal cruelty.

Animals, however, are not the only thing she is passionate about. She is thinking about a career in media to help further her animal protection beliefs.

“I study crazy hard so that I can get into a good college,” said Lindenblad.

Lindenblad hopes to go to the University of Virginia or College of William & Mary, but her dreams don’t stop there. After graduating from college, Lindenblad wants to  pursue a career in journalism and become a newscaster. 

“I know it is far-fetched but somebody has to do it, so why not me?” said Lindenblad.

As a journalist, Lindenblad said she plans to cover many different subjects, including animal abuse.

“I’d like to be active in the animal abuse cause but I don’t want to push my beliefs on other people,” said Lindenblad.

Even though Lindenblad has lived her whole life in Virginia, she wants to move beyond the borders of the Old Dominion. Still unsure of how this will play out, she hopes to take her activism nationwide.

“All I really want is the world to be nicer to animals,” said Lindenblad.

More to Discover