Purdue to host 51 high school students at youth institute

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Fifty-one students from 31 Indiana high schools arrive on the Purdue University campus this week to participate in the 2015 World Food Prize Youth Institute.

That is by far the most students to enroll since the event began in 2011 with 11. Participation has increased every year, with 30 last year.

Kelly Delp, College of Agriculture stewardship coordinator, said it was exciting to know that so many Indiana high school students were interested in helping to solve the problem of global hunger.

"Feeding a world of 9 billion people will need to happen in the next generation of the workforce," Delp said. "The high school students who attend the World Food Prize Purdue Youth Institute are getting a head start in figuring out how to manage a task as complicated as global hunger."

To be eligible, students had to write a paper of 3-5 pages about a developing country and a factor affecting hunger there. They will present their paper to three Purdue experts at the start of the institute Thursday evening (April 16). The papers and the presentations are scored, and the top students will have the opportunity to attend the Global Youth Institute in Des Moines, Iowa, in the fall.

 Students who attend Global Youth Institute are eligible for a Borlaug-Ruan International Internship, designed to help high school students embark on career paths in science, agriculture and global development. The World Food Prize selects about 20 students each year.

The students also can apply for an internship with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Also on Thursday will be a dinner, with discussion led by former scholars and Jay Akridge, Glenn W. Sample Dean of Purdue Agriculture.

Friday's activities will consist of tours of various departments in the college. Vic Lechtenberg, special assistant to the Purdue president and a former College of Agriculture dean, and Elizabeth Crimmings, director of National Education Programs for the World Food Prize Foundation, will give keynote addresses.

The event will conclude with closing remarks by Marcos Fernandez, associate dean and director of the college's Office of Academic programs. He will present the students certificates.           

Writer: Carlee Glassburn, 765-496-2384, cglassbu@purdue.edu 

Source: Kelly Delp, 765-494-9650, kjdelp@prf.org

Ag Communications: (765) 494-2722;
Keith Robinson, robins89@purdue.edu
Agriculture News Page