FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Lisa Fleming, Director of Global Education Programs, 515-245-3795 or
lfleming@worldfoodprize.org
Cary High Scool student participates in prestigious World Food Prize Global
Youth Institute
The best and brightest students from 30 U.S. states and territories and six countries
attended speeches by world renowned leaders, presented their own research, and
joined in hunger relief efforts.
Des Moines, Iowa, Nov. 17, 2015 -- Sydney Edmisten of Cary High Scool in Cary,
North Carolina was among the select students nominated to attend the World Food
Prize Global Youth Institute Oct. 15-17, 2015, in Des Moines, Iowa, during the Borlaug
Dialogue International Symposium, which drew 1,300 people from more than 60
countries to discuss the world’s hunger and food security issues. The World Food Prize
was founded by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dr. Norman Borlaug to recognize and
inspire great achievements in improving the quality, quantity and availability of food in
the world.
This year’s World Food Prize Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium focused on the
theme “Borlaug 101: Fundamentals of Global Food Security” and gave special
emphasis on issues such as: Girls and Women in Science, Technology, Engineering
and Mathematics (STEM); Aquaculture and Fisheries; Bio-Fortification; and Precision
Agriculture. Global Youth Institute students and teachers had the opportunity to take
part in symposium sessions with the top minds and foremost leaders in global
agriculture, food, and development.
Global Youth Institute students and their teacher mentors attended symposium sessions
featuring:
•
Her Excellency Joyce Banda, Former President, Malawi
•
The Honorable Thomas J. Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture, United
States
•
Arni Mathiesen, Assistant Director-General, Fisheries & Aquaculture
Department, UN Food & Agriculture Organization, Iceland
•
Sheryl WuDunn, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author, United States
•
The CEOs of many of the world’s major agribusiness companies:
Cargill, DuPont, Elanco, Monsanto, PepsiCo, and Syngenta; and
•
Researchers, non-profit leaders and smallholder farmers from around
the globe.
At the three-day Institute, Edmisten and 200 other high school student participants of
the program from across the United States and abroad researched global food security
issues in the developing country of their choice and then submitted papers on those
critical topics, which they also presented to a diverse group of internationally renowned
World Food Prize Laureates and other distinguished experts and scientists.
Edmisten presented a paper on the theme "Sustainably Feeding 9 Billion by 2050” and
took part in roundtable discussions with experts in industry, science, academia and
policy on the culminating day of the program hosted by DuPont Pioneer at its Carver
Conference Center in Johnston, Iowa. Edmisten's paper specifically dealt with water
issues in South Sudan. During the Institute, participants also helped with a hands-on
service project packaging meals for Outreach, Inc., a hunger-fighting organization that
serves people in the United States and internationally, toured innovative research and
industrial facilities in Adel, Ankeny, Panora and Slater, Iowa – Hawkeye Breeders
Service, AHC Food Companies/Tones, Early Morning Harvest Farms, and Syngenta
Seeds, respectively – and took part in an interactive Oxfam Hunger Banquet that
brought to life the realities of hunger and poverty.
Created by Dr. Borlaug and Iowa businessman John Ruan in 1994, the Global Youth
Institute today receives major support from Clay Mathile and the Mathile Institute for the
Advancement of Human Nutrition. The program was developed to challenge and inspire
participating student-teacher teams to identify ways of alleviating hunger, and to expose
the students to opportunities and careers in food, agriculture and natural resource
disciplines. Of the students who complete the program, about 92% go on to pursue
college degrees in agriculture and science and 77% choose careers in agriculture,
STEM and other fields critical to the fight against hunger. The Institute also boasts an
impressive, two-thirds participation by young women. Dr. Borlaug often stated, “I am
certain that these students will become the future agricultural, scientific and
humanitarian leaders in the fight to end hunger”.
At the Global Youth Institute, Edmisten interacted with students and teachers from
Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois,
Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska,
New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South
Dakota, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well
as Canada, China, India, Kosovo, Mexico and Turkey.
Participants also viewed Iowa Public Television’s live coverage of the 2015 World Food
Prize Laureate Award Ceremony that honored Sir Fazle Hasan Abed of Bangladesh,
this year’s Prize recipient and renowned founder and chairperson of BRAC, for his
unparalleled achievement in building a unique, integrated development organization that
many have hailed as the most effective anti-poverty organization in the world. Sir Fazle,
who was knighted by the British Crown in 2009, has grown BRAC (formerly known as
Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee) into the world’s largest non-governmental
organization. BRAC has provided the opportunity for nearly 150 million people
worldwide to improve their lives, have enhanced food security and follow a pathway out
of poverty. The scale and impact of BRAC's work in Bangladesh and ten other countries
is unprecedented. Read the full laureate story on the World Food Prize website.
High school educators and students interested in participating in the 2016 Global Youth
Institute should visit www.worldfoodprize.org/youth and select their state on the U.S.
map, or the link for other countries if living abroad, for more information.
ABOUT THE WORLD FOOD PRIZE: The World Food Prize was founded in 1986 by
Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, recipient of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize. Since then, The World
Food Prize has honored outstanding individuals who have made vital contributions to
improving the quality, quantity or availability of food throughout the world. Laureates
have been recognized from Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, China, Denmark, Ethiopia,
Ghana, India, Israel, Mexico, Sierra Leone, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United
Nations and the United States. In 1990, Des Moines businessman and philanthropist
John Ruan assumed sponsorship of The Prize and established The World Food Prize
Foundation, located in Des Moines, Iowa.