CAPS students attend the World Food Prize Global Youth Institute

Abby Mitchell and Courtney Jacobson of Blue Valley CAPS in Overland Park, Kansas were 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.

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. Mitchell and Jacobson presented their papers and took part in roundtable discussions with experts in industry, science, academia and policy. They 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.