It's a slow day so I think I'm going to go into depth about how I got here. Many of you don't know the full story, so here's a post to clear up any questions you might have!
It all started last July when my friend Lauren posted something on facebook. She talked about how she went to this thing called the Global Youth Institute out in Iowa. She had so many pictures from this trip and it looked so exciting! She mentioned how she met all these important international government officials, esteemed scientists, and other students from across the country and even the world who were passionate about ending world hunger. It really peaked my interest!
Once I told Lauren I was interested she sent me a link and wished me luck! I clicked on the link and it brought me to the World Food Prize's page. I read the description for the application process and realized that this was going to be a big deal. I had to write an 8 paged research paper on a country of my choice, a factor that caused food insecurity, and come up with recommendations to fix the problem. I was determined to succeed and be New Jersey's Laureate. I chose the most difficult country to research, Uzbekistan. I chose to research the water insecurity that plagues the country. Finding information on Uzbekistan was anything but easy. After spending hours on google searching through the national Uzbek website and reading a few pdf files I managed to find I finally got enough information to make my paper. I spent a solid week and a half on that paper and nothing felt better than sending it in a week before it was due. All I had to do was wait.
Waiting was the most excruciating part. On the website it said that I would hear back in late August so I was eagerly awaiting a response a week before the end of August. That week went by and I was sure that I didn't get the spot. I was upset. I spent all that time working on that paper and it seemed like it was all for nothing. The next week was band camp so I was too busy to be upset about anything. Late on the third day of band camp I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. I unlocked my phone to see that I was New Jersey's Laureate for the Global Youth Institute! I was so excited!
October came and I was so excited! Since my teacher couldn't go with me, my mom decided to join me for those 3 days in Iowa. We took a plane out from Philly and arrived the night before the institute officially began. I roomed with a girl named Annie from Minnesota and my mom roomed with her teacher. It was so cool to have Annie as my roommate! We both talked about food insecurity, politics, and other exciting topics. We were so excited for the next 3 days!
Now the one thing I didn't know about the institute that it wasn't just an institute for students. The institute was an educational youth program run by the World Food Prize during the prestigious Borlaug Dialogue. I had no idea that it would be this big! People like the President of Iceland, the cardinal who's second in line to the pope, the Nigerian Secretary of Agriculture, and the 3 scientists who created GMO's (who were receiving the World Food Prize at the Dialogue). This event is basically the Nobel Prize for people fighting food insecurity.
The World Food Prize is an organization started by Dr. Norman Borlaug aka the man who saved a billion lives. I didn't know anything about Dr. Borlaug until this experience. Dr. Borlaug developed a special brand of wheat that grew well in Mexico and other hot environments. While the wheat thrived in Mexico there was a severe wheat shortage in asia, specifically Pakistan and India. Dr. Borlaug saw this problem and decided to send some seeds from his wheat in Mexico and sent it over to Pakistan and India. The wheat thrived and saved a billion lives. Dr. Borlaug received the Nobel Prize, the Congressional Medal of Honor, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Dr. Borlaug is one of 3 americans who have received this award, the other two being Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Elie Wiesel.
The dialogue was filled with a lot of interesting panels! There was one about feminism in the science industry among foreign countries, the president of Iceland gave a presentation about Iceland's geothermal energy and their fish recycling program for people in Ethiopia, and the importance of youth involvement in the agriculture industry.
The actual youth institute was interesting. We were separated into groups and taken to a lot of cool events. We were brought to a food packaging where we prepared freeze dried food that would be sent to Hati. We visited a soybean farm and talked to farmers about their struggles, talked to a veterinarian, and talked to a farm insurance guy (who gave me a cool coffee container). Another time we were brought to the World Food Prize building. We spent a lot of time there for a bunch of cool events. We were in a private room where we had the privilege to hear speeches from a senator, the cardinal, and the President of Iceland. We were even allowed to ask the President of Iceland a few questions and mine was one of the first ones to be answered. After their speeches we broke up into our groups and walked around the building. My group went downstairs to one of the exhibits to do a few activities. We started off with a few icebreakers, talked about what we wanted to learn from our experiences here,and each of us read about a World Food Prize Laureate. After that event we went back upstairs for a quick cocktail hour before we had to sit down and watch the Laureate award ceremony on a big projector. It was a lot of fun because it was a little party. We all brought some food into the room and enjoyed watching the ceremony.
The next day was the most important part of the institute. We went out to the DuPont building which was half an hour away from our hotel in Des Moines. When we got there there were big posters set up along the walls and there were students dressed in different cultural clothing. They were Borlaug Ruan Interns! They traveled to so many different places doing important research. I knew right there and then that I was going to try my hardest to become one of them. After looking at the posters we were brought into an auditorium where the Laureates talked to us. Once they were done speaking we were split up into our groups again and brought into conference rooms to discuss our research papers with professionals. We all went around the table, gave our 5 minute speeches, and answered any questions the professionals or our peers had. At the end of our discussion we had to pick leaders to present our solutions for food insecurity in front of all the other students, World Food Prize Laureates from the past and present, and professionals. A girl named Mackenzie and I were chosen to present. We quickly wrote down our speech and prepared to deliver it. Once our turn came we made it short and sweet. We did really well! Sadly, I had to leave before the Borlaug Ruan Interns got to give their presentations.
After I came home to New Jersey I was determined to become a Borlaug Ruan intern. Ali, a friend I met at the Global Youth Institute, and I kept in touch throughout the application process. We edited each other's papers, held mock interviews in preparation to our actual interviews (I personally think our questions were a lot harder), and kept each other calm until we got the news. Neither of us believed we would get it. I thought Ali was going to get it and she was certain I would get it. Thankfully we both received this honor.
So that's how I got here! It was stressful but it was all worth it. The World Food Prize opened so many doors for me and there are so many things I can do! I could even apply for another internship next summer to work for the USDA! The Global Youth Institute got me here and it definitely is going to take me further.
That was a nice little walk down memory lane! Hope this cleared things up!
Bye guys!
-Allie
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