Alyssa Brown (’20) entered a world of opportunity when she followed a high school teacher’s advice and signed up for the Iowa Youth Institute.
The Iowa Youth Institute is one of the youth programs offered by the World Food Prize, which was founded by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Norman Borlaug. The institute has been hosted at Iowa State since its launch in 2012. It was created to inspire high school students to explore global food security issues and offers students a chance to learn more about Iowa State and qualify for scholarships.
Approximately 300 students participate in the Iowa Youth Institute annually, each completing a research paper which they then present at Iowa State to a group of peers and university and industry experts.
Brown attended the Iowa Youth Institute during all four years of high school. Her first experience was in 2013, when she presented a paper on water and sanitation services in Ethiopia.
“As a high school freshman, I was a little intimidated,” Brown says. “It was my first time at Iowa State and the first time doing this kind of academic presentation in front of my peers. The experience expanded my ability to present confidently and interact with peers in meaningful ways.”
Brown’s involvement with the Iowa Youth Institute allowed her to participate in the Global Youth Institute in 2014, which, in turn, opened the path to a Borlaug-Ruan International Internship in 2016.
“I did anthropometric and nutrition research in Guatemala,” she says. “It was my first time out of the country and a career-changing experience.”
As an Iowa State student, she volunteered at the Iowa Youth Institute and the Norman E. Borlaug International Dialogue, also known as the Borlaug Dialogue, making connections that led to a Land O’ Lakes internship involving travel to Africa, and an internship with the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition in India, supporting nutrition education and micronutrient research.
Brown now works for the World Food Prize Foundation, coordinating the Borlaug Dialogue and Iowa Hunger Summit.
“High school Alyssa would be stunned at what I’m doing now — interacting with global nutrition and agricultural experts, including Nobel Prize laureates and government and corporate leaders,” she says.
Since 2012, more than 3,600 students have presented their research at the Iowa Youth Institute, and more than 75% of Iowa’s public schools have participated. To date, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences has distributed more than $800,000 in scholarships to Iowa students for their involvement in the Iowa Youth Institute and the World Food Prize Foundation’s Youth Programs.
Raegan Kramer (’18), who attended the same Western Dubuque High School as Brown, presented a persuasive essay on why Kenya should repeal a ban on GMOs at the Iowa Youth Institute.
“Being on campus is exciting because it makes you feel like you’re already established at Iowa State, so the transition when you become a student is a little easier,” Kramer says.
She also participated in the Global Youth Institute, which led to being a World Food Prize USDA Wallace-Carver Fellow. The fellowship, in turn, provided her with a prestigious summer internship in Ames.
“I interned with the USDA over two summers and had a hands-on, real-world experience of doing research in a lab,” says Kramer, who now leads a biostatistics team at Syngenta. “I learned the scientific method and how to investigate different hypotheses. It helped me realize that I wanted to go to graduate school.”
Catherine Swoboda (’08, ’10), associate teaching professor in global resource systems, helped create the Iowa Youth Institute. Driven by growing interest in STEM, the idea of basing the Iowa Youth Institute at Iowa State received strong support from then-Governor Terry Branstad’s administration and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, then under the deanship of Wendy Wintersteen (’88), Swoboda says.
“If you think about the shared missions of Iowa State as a land-grant institution and the World Food Prize Foundation, it makes for an incredible partnership,” Swoboda says. “Dr. Borlaug dedicated his life to fighting global hunger, and I think enthusiasm surrounding the Iowa Youth Institute would make him very happy and give him hope.”
Andrew Zehr (’01, ’03) worked with Swoboda during those early days of the Iowa Youth Institute. Now director of communication and marketing for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, he remains focused on the institute as an important recruiting opportunity.
“We work really hard to recruit students who participate in the Iowa Youth Institute,” he says. “A lot of students are more likely to consider careers in agriculture when they can look at it through a problem-solving lens.”
Zehr and Swoboda note that the institute attracts students who end up in a range of majors and career paths, ranging from agriculture to health care. This diversity “gives you a real sense of the far-reaching impact the program has had and will continue to have,” Swoboda says.
Zehr’s two sons have participated in the Iowa Youth Institute, and his oldest, Nolan, is now at Iowa State studying global resource systems and environmental science. His path may have been decided at an early stage thanks to his dad’s involvement in the youth program. For a fourth grade “wax museum” project, while his peers dressed up like Michael Jordan and other recognizable celebrities, Nolan dressed as who else? Norman Borlaug.
