Among the many issues that run rampant in our society today, there is one particular one that often goes unnoticed: animal cruelty. Samar, sophomore in high school and passionate animal lover, realized how severe this issue was and decided to take action by creating an organization called “aact.now,” which aims to spread awareness about animal cruelty and figure out ways to prevent it.
Samar has always loved animals, having lived in an environment constantly surrounded by them. (In fact, she has been begging her parents for a cat for years, and finally was able to have one as a pet!) In the past, Samar was able to gain great firsthand experiences with animals when she volunteered at a local organization to take care of abused horses. She notes that on some Saturdays, she had to work long hours, volunteering from 6 in the morning all the way to 1 in the afternoon. Despite the hard work, however, it was worth it: “sometimes it was a struggle waking up in the morning but I’d still go there because that was my passion.“ She developed a long-lasting love for animals and passion for protecting animals and unwarranted harm against them.
In November 2020, Samar created “aact.now” and started an Instagram page, posting graphics with statistics about animal cruelty, hoping to spark a conversation. Although the organization she created is fairly new, she has already moved on to recruiting directors and has quite lofty goals set ahead for the future.
First, Samar is looking to gain more exposure as an organization by engaging in outreach and partnering up with other organizations. For example, she has already partnered up with a branch of ASPCA, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. In the near future, Samar hopes to continue to spread awareness about the prevalence of animal cruelty in her own community as well as globally, through social media platforms. She is also hoping to engage in meaningful community service projects to help animals. Samar notes that she found this especially important as she believes youth often don’t engage in organizations relating to animal cruelty, which is a large reason why she was so compelled to create this organization. Other goals Samar has for the future include writing blogs and articles about animal cruelty or specific testimonials to raise more awareness and guide attention towards animal cruelty as well as set up fundraisers for abused animals or animal shelters.
Samar’s greatest dream is to continue to pursue this passion for fighting against animal cruelty as a profession by becoming a veterinarian. Most of her family practices medicine, so it was always “in her blood” to pursue some field in medicine. However, Samar was able to combine a family tradition with a true passion to pursue a dream career of veterinary. Although Samar is still a sophomore in high school, she undoubtedly has a bright future ahead of her to cultivate her love for animals and continue to fight against animal cruelty and abuse as well as inspire others to do the same.
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