Last month, two Mid-Prairie students participated in the Iowa Youth Institute at Iowa State University. The event allows high school students to engage with leading experts on critical global challenges and explore ways to make a difference both in Iowa and around the world.

Golden Hawks, Greta Sieren and Peighton Ford, shared their papers, which both centered around food insecurity. Sieren’s paper focused on malnutrition in Malawi, while Ford focused on malnutrition in Sierra Leone.

To prepare, Sieren and Ford had to research their respective country, identify the challenges they face, and determine a workable solution to the problem. Both were additionally named as Borlaug Scholars, which makes them eligible for a $1,000 scholarship from ISU.

The Iowa Youth Institute is sponsored by the World Food Prize, whose mission is to elevate innovations and inspire action to sustainably increase the quality, quantity, and availability of food for all. This year, over 250 papers were submitted for the event.