Incredible people should be rewarded for their efforts, right? We think so, too! PETA just named the TeachKind’s 2021 Teacher of the year and the winner IS 100 percent deserving of the title.
TeachKind is a yearly competition that rewards and features teachers for incorporating compassion for all sentient beings into their lesson plans, especially those who are often overlooked: non-human animals. Because after all, learning to treat everyone with respect, no matter how they look should be an important part of any curriculum.
So what was this year's prize? An animal friendly gift basket, a beautiful faux leather purse from von Holzhausen and a MamaSezz bundle! We were so happy with their selection that we even added our famous Not-A-Cookies! Wow… sign me up to be a teacher!
Drum roll please....
This year's winner was middle school teacher, Laura Barlow. She teaches at Roger Williams Middle School in Providence, Rhode Island.
Photography by Mallory Walsh
Laura teaches middle school arts and uses creative expression as a vehicle to teach compassion and vegan advocacy in her curriculum.
Because Laura is certified in special education and works with multilingual learners, she is able to teach students of a variety of abilities, and from varying backgrounds. She encourages her students to participate in projects, like creating inspirational “advocacy posters” and exploring topics like animal agriculture, dogfighting, and pollution.
She also shares images with her students, and encourages them to share their feelings on what they are seeing. Laura hopes to provoke critical thinking, compassion and discourage students from following the norms blindly. She even helped coach a family to help their child (her student) go vegetarian.
Outside of work, Laura also provides Rhode Island Vegan Awareness, an organization dedicated to encouraging and guiding others to live a more peaceful lifestyle. On the side, Laura also writes articles and gives talks about vegan cooking, and vegan living. She even organizes vegan tasting events and movie screenings to help bring awareness to the public.
At home, Laura cares for her two disabled dogs, with whom she shares with her class during COVID Zoom classes.
Laura is appreciated and loved by her students, community and fellow advocates. She is making a real difference in the lives of both humans and animals and we are honored that she'll be enjoying our MamaSezz meals as part of her winnings.
Checkout PETA's feature of Laura and the incredible roster of runner ups (there were so many rockstar teachers out there!)
PETA-approved meals, delivered to your door!
Make eating healthy vegan meals easy! Let Mama do the cooking for you when you order a MamaSezz Vegan Bonanza PETA bundle today. All MamaSezz meals arrive to your door fresh and ready to heat and eat. Get plant-based takes on all your favorite comfort food staples, from our Millie's Chili to Vegan Tuna "ish" Salad – we've even got cookies!
MamaSezz dishes are always gluten-free, whole food plant based, vegan, sugar-free and oil-free.