Hats Off to This Classroom Crusader When her school held a "hat day" to raise money for the March of Dimes (students who donated $1 could wear a hat), 10-year-old Renee Croce used her head warning other students that the health charity funds cruel experiments on animals. After reading the "March of Crimes" leaflet that Renee passed around, her classmates and her teacher! took off their hats. Unbearably Sad Display After reading info from PETA about the Three Bears Gift Shop in Tennessee where bears are kept in a depressing concrete pit and often don't even have clean food or drinking water 12-year-old Cory Cummings created a Web site to get the word out about the animals' miserable living conditions. Cory's site (www.webspawner.com/users/nagelnighthawk) has already received hundreds of hits. Hot Topic Seventh-grader Cynthia Minter's display about factory farms, animal experiments, circuses, and the skins trade won first place in a schoolwide "Rights and Responsibilities in History," contest, and she went on to the regionals changing minds along the way. Food for Thought Kathlyn McMasters, Rachel Cosner, and Samantha Piazza compared vegetarian and meat-based diets for their school science project. The girls' science teacher said their project, which showed that vegetarians are less likely to develop cancer, heart disease, obesity, and other ills, "was, by far, the best one on display." What About You? There are so many ways to help animals from saying "no" to field trips to the circus to asking your friends to try some great vegetarian food. For ideas, check out PETAKids.com. Tell us what you've done for animals. Write to Grrr!, 501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510