Mt. Pleasant Native Shaleen Thiengmany selected as prestigious Borlaug-Ruan international Intern

DES MOINES - The World Food Prize Foundation announced in May that it would send 24 high school students abroad for the Borlaug-Ruan International Internship program at renowned international research centers and NGOs this summer. Shaleen Thiengmany has been selected for this prestigious honor.

'I started my journey with food security as a timid eighth-grader, simply looking for ways to give back to my community and being more than happy to help out wherever help was needed,” said Shaleen. 'That summer, I began my work at the Fellowship Cup, and later, with the support of my talented and gifted teacher, Mrs. Stater, I applied for and attended the World Food Prize Foundation's student programs. Back then,

I never would have imagined myself pursuing a career and internship doing research abroad, and I could not be more grateful and excited for this opportunity.”

These exceptional students hail from Iowa and nine other states and will delve into issues related to global hunger and poverty during eight-week internships in Africa, Asia and Latin America. You can follow the students' summer internships through the Borlaug-Ruan International Intern blog at https://medium.com/thenextnorm.

This is the 21st year of this unique program, which was created by Dr. Norman Borlaug and John Ruan, Sr. in 1998, allowing high-school-aged student interns to participate in projects with distinguished researchers at leading agricultural research centers around the globe. While getting a firsthand view of real and pressing food security issues and nutrition problems in poverty-stricken areas, the students become an integral part of a project, spending time in the lab as well as days or weeks at a time in the field conducting research and interviews and gathering data.

'My experience as a Borlaug-Ruan Intern has been one of the best experiences of my life,” said 2012 Borlaug-Ruan International Intern Jessica Blosberg. 'Six years later, I am still being impacted by what I learned, who I connected with, and how I look at the world.”

The program has grown significantly over the past 21 years, initially sending just two students overseas the first year. At the culmination of the 21st year, 346 young aspiring scientists will have participated in the internship that has created a significant impact on their education and career choices.

'This is one the unique and innovative programs in the United States,” said Ambassador Kenneth Quinn, president of the World Food Prize Foundation. 'The Borlaug-Ruan International Internship program seeks to inspire high school students to education and careers in science in order to confront and eliminate food insecurity. Norman Borlaug told us that the great challenge of the 21st century is whether or not we can eradicate hunger, poverty, and malnutrition, and meet what is the greatest challenge humans have ever faced: are we going to be able to sustainably and nutritiously feed the over 9 billion people who will be on our planet? It will be up to you - Borlaug-Ruan Interns - and your generation to decide whether we meet this challenge or not.”

Dr. Borlaug and John Ruan, Sr. believed that by engaging young students in actual hunger-fighting research through the World Food Prize youth education programs, they could inspire them to pursue academic and career paths in agricultural science, food technology and natural resource conservation.

The interns are involved in a myriad global projects dedicated to reducing poverty and hunger such as: fisheries and aquaculture studies; plant biotechnology research; microcredit and women's self-help; the influence of education on household food security; livestock value chains; and the calculation of vitamin C concentration in numerous potato varieties.

A prerequisite for the Borlaug-Ruan International Internship is attending the three-day World Food Prize Global Youth Institute, which occurs each October. Youth Institute participants present research papers and interact with World Food Prize Laureates and renowned experts to discuss issues relating to food security throughout the world.

For more information on the Borlaug-Ruan Internship and 2019 Interns please visit: www.worldfoodprize.org/br2019interns.

'Food accessibility is a human right and sustainability is a way of life that has been lost, but is being refound,” said Priscilla Trinh, 2019 Borlaug-Ruan International Intern. 'As I engage with the international community as a Borlaug-Ruan Intern, I hope to expand my thought processes in a more intersectional and reflexive direction. This is a wonderful opportunity to question what the green movement needs to be, and how one aspect (food systems) can be adapted to face today's and future challenges.”

About The World Food Prize: The World Food Prize is the foremost international award recognizing the achievements of individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world. The Prize was founded in 1986 by Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, recipient of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize. Since then, the World Food Prize has honored 49 outstanding individuals who have made vital contributions throughout the world. The World Food Prize annually hosts the Borlaug Dialogue international symposium and a variety of youth education programs to help further the discussion on cutting-edge global food security issues and inspire the next generation to end hunger.