Five Minnesota high schoolers advance to Global Youth Institute

TWIN CITIES—Following the spring competition at the University of Minnesota Minnesota Youth Institute, five high school students were selected to participate in the three-day Global Youth Institute (GYI) hosted by the World Food Prize Foundation.

The cohort and the hometown include: Jasmine Holt, Maple Grove Senior High School, Maple Grove; Nikhil Kapur, Eastview High School, Apple Valley; Joshua Klingensmith, Braham High School, Braham; Esperanza Lee, Woodbury High School, Woodbury; and Kristen Watkins, Lourdes High School, Rochester. Each presented a solution to a food security issue faced by a country other than the United States. The final delegates qualify to apply for WFP internships offered this coming summer.

Each year, 200 exceptional high school students from around the world are selected to participate in the three-day GYI. Selected students and their teachers/mentors will travel to Des Moines, Iowa and spend October 17-19 to attend the event at which they interact with Nobel and World Food Prize Laureates and discuss pressing food security and agricultural issues with international experts.

At the GYI, student delegates present and discuss their findings with international experts and their peers, connect with other students from around the world, tour cutting-edge industrial and research facilities, and take part in symposium discussions with global leaders in science, industry, and policy.

Teachers/mentors register their students to participate in a qualifying Youth Institute or apply for an at-large delegate seat at the Global Youth Institute (if the student resides in a U.S. state or country where no Youth Institute exists). The students then research and write a short research report on a critical food security issue under the direction of their teacher/mentor.

Find out more about the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities program here.