Junior Alyssa Perry is involved in a number of De Soto High School activities including track, cross country, yearbook, band, A & M crew and Student Council. On top of all her school activities, she enjoys reading, hiking and baking.

One of Perry’s favorite hobbies is baking. From cookies to tacos, Perry makes all of her recipes vegan.

“I would say the best part [about being vegan] is trying new foods and making cool recipes,” Perry said.

Perry sometimes experiments with recipes and even creates her own. She finds regular recipes either online or from cookbooks and uses plant based ingredients to make vegan recipes.

One of the ways Perry replaces eggs in her recipes is by mixing warm water with flax seeds.

Owning a bakery has crossed Perry’s mind, but she claims it does not align with her future plans of being a physician assistant in dermatology. She plans to attend the University of Kansas to study biology.

In the future, Perry would like to showcase her talent of creating vegan recipes by publishing her own cookbook.

“I always enjoy experimenting with it and figuring out how to make the recipe better, or not taste vegan,” Perry said.

Although Perry spends much of her free time baking, when given the opportunity, Perry and her family often travel to national parks to hike and take pictures. Perry has been to a total of eight national parks and she hopes to visit more in the future.