Dealing With Rejection

“Your impassioned plea made me change my personal dietary choices and got me thinking about policies to advocate for at the state level.”

Wow.

Here was an elected official showing his confidence in and appreciation for a thirteen-year-old.

…

I’ve always been a fierce competitor. In elementary school, I participated in the Destination Imagination and First Lego League competitions, and my first Blokus game tournament came before I even knew what the word “competition” meant. I loved the thrill of winning trophies. So, in middle school, I decided to compete in the Siemens Challenge. Hurricane Sandy had just struck my hometown, and the Challenge required students to explore climate change and the causes behind it.

For the challenge, I researched the devastating impact of animal agriculture on the environment. As part of the outreach, I presented my findings to Sen. James Eldridge (D-MA), that individual food choices could benefit the environment. He was enthusiastic following the presentation and told me he would think about policy changes in Massachusetts.

Though the competition was over, I was inspired by his words. I reached out to the director of food services at my school to ask if we could reduce the animal products served in school lunches.

“No. We can’t do that.”

Her blunt response left me disheartened. I was left with a great idea but no plan.

I reached back out to Sen. Eldridge to explore other avenues to change school menus. With his team’s guidance, I decided to write legislation to have schools across Massachusetts reduce animal products served to combating climate change.

After thirteen grueling months of understanding the process to write legislation, requesting letters of support from hundreds of professionals across the country, and writing multiple drafts, I finally submitted my work.

It was rejected.

How could an idea with such a meaningful cause be rejected again? So I decided to give up.

…

Six weeks later, in my sophomore year, my father had his second heart attack. He was a healthy man in his forties, who never drank or smoked and wasn’t overweight. My family and I were devastated. Even his cardiologist was baffled.

Unsure of how to proceed, I talked to doctors who had supported my legislation, and they introduced my family to the whole food plant-based diet. With clinical research proving this diet could prevent and reverse chronic disease, we tried it. Amazingly, within three weeks, my father’s health drastically improved.

I thought back to the summer before, when I’d volunteered at a hospital and shadowed a physician. I had seen hundreds of patients my dad’s age come in with chronic disease, their family’s faces filled with despair. We were one of those families. But I couldn’t bear to see others go through that same stress and uncertainty that we’d had to endure.

I decided to rewrite my legislation, but this time with a focus on preventing and reversing chronic disease. After spending countless hours understanding how the whole food plant-based diet can free millions from the epidemic of chronic disease, I re-submitted my work.

It passed.

Public schools across Massachusetts will now provide whole food plant-based options and nutritional based education to children. By teaching kids from a young age the importance of this healthy diet, children can fend off chronic disease for themselves and their families.

This entire process over the last three years has transformed me from a fierce competitor to a globally aware citizen. Learning about animal agriculture, getting rejected multiple times, enduring the emotional effects of my father’s heart attack, and instituting change within my state, have all been steps in an important life mission for me. Currently, I’m spearheading an initiative with Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to draft legislation at the federal level to ensure that every child nationwide can fight chronic disease.

I’ll never stop being a tenacious competitor, but now I compete for the benefit of all.