Kai Vargas is 12 years old, living in Santa Cruz, California. He has always been a big fan of nature, discovering its details, colors and behaviors. When out and about with his friends, Kai does it all. Between surfing, skating, soccer, baseball, mountain biking, hiking and camping, we couldn’t believe he still had time to talk to us! Kai is always staying active and exploring what nature has to offer.
What he loves most about playing so many sports is how they support each other. His surfing helps his arms get stronger for baseball, while playing soccer strengthens his legs and helps him steer his board on the waves.
All these sports make him feel joy, relaxed, and also improve his stamina and performance. To us, it sounds like the perfect combination of enjoying activities that bring happiness alongside nature.
When asking Kai about what he loves about Santa Cruz, he quickly mentioned the beautiful forest, beaches, waterfalls and all they provide. He also said we have amazing museums and lookouts, so we have a long list of activities for next weekend :)
He had so many beautiful stories of camping and fishing trips that caught our attention but we really wanted to dig deeper into this specific camp where they taught the kids about helping the environment, but we didn’t want to keep him off his board for too long.
We decided to keep it simple and ask Kai what he thought about helping the environment and how we and other brands can support and inspire the youth.
Listening closely, we realized sometimes the youth can inspire us. Kai created a compostable ketchup package together with his dad and this experience made him strongly believe that Vaxa should look towards compostable material wherever possible. Right on, Kai! He also mentioned that electric cars would be a great solution to save both energy, money and help the environment.
Bigger companies like Starbucks are already starting a trend by switching to compostable straws but Kai believes that even smaller companies should do little things to inspire the kids and help the environment, like the “pack your trash” campaign.The campaign was as simple as a cool shirt and initiative, but the message has inspired Santa Cruz locals to keep our beaches clean.
Alongside our focus on building a snack that gives back to nature, He likes that our bars are plant based and tasty!
Kai says his favorite flavor is definitely the No nut PB&J. He didn’t think he would like the Beet Coco but it surprised him and became one of his favorites as well.
Växa is still growing but we are hoping that together with the youth we can make a difference to give back and listen to their ideas to help build a better future for our kids.