When Yorkville High School students and graduates think about school lunch they might not necessarily imagine the word vegan - that was until senior Alexia Heriaud.
Since the beginning of this semester, Yorkville High School has been offering students a vegan option every Tuesday in the cafeteria - thanks in no small part to the activism of the Yorkville senior.
“I’ve barely ever eaten a meal at our school, because throughout my entire high school career I’ve been vegetarian or vegan - so I’ve always had to pack meals,” Heriaud said in an interview.
While working on a college-level thesis for AP Research, Heriaud began researching the student body’s attitudes toward the food served at lunch. Faced with her own diet restrictions, she went to the district’s food service committee to get healthier, vegan-friendly options on the menu.
“Our school is pretty open to trying new things and trying to make it feel inclusive for all students,” Heriaud said. “It’s intimidating to talk to 20 adults that are in charge of you and trying to tell them ‘Hey I don’t like it. We should change it.’ But everybody was so open to the idea.”
Vegan food is distinct from vegetarian food in that it doesn’t use dairy or eggs in addition to meat (making it better for animals and the environment). Though the weekly add-on to the high school’s menu don’t sound any less appealing to a hungry teenager. So far, the cafeteria has served items like BBQ chipotle nachos, a veggie Mediterranean wrap and a black bean burger.
And plenty of Yorkville students, many of whom likely aren’t even vegan, are ordering the new options. Approximately 25% of students were ordering the vegan lunches when available, according to Mike Vargas, director of business service for the school district.
“It’s refreshing that a student is proactive about something like that,” Vargas said, adding the vegan lunch program could soon launch at Yorkville Middle School. “We have been having feedback from parents regarding the menu options, that they want change, that they want more healthier options. So this was something that was just perfect timing.”
Heriaud’s project on veganism comes out the district’s new AP Capstone course. David Tabler, the course’s instructor, said that students learn the basics of college-level research and methodology in preparation for their final thesis. Other research projects in the class include the effect of unreliable news sources on teenagers, the use of school dress codes and e-learning impacts mental health.
“One of my biggest goals as a teacher is that students use their voice, that they actually get out into their comm and get involved,” Tabler said. “Schools not just a laboratory... It’s really good just for me as a teacher to have a student (Heriaud) of this caliber, who will take this project and actually make actual change with it rather than ‘I’m just going to get an A and never think about this ever again”
Fresh off an early push for real-world change, Heriaud said she might pursue political science or pre-law in college.
“I’m definitely going to do what I can to educate others on veganism and the benefits of it,” the high school senior said. “If I have a platform to do so within law, if I can be an environmental lawyer that would be cool.”