Media Advisory: World Food Prize Foundation President to Speak at 2013 Ohio Youth Institute

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Kenneth M. Quinn, president of the World Food Prize Foundation and former U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia, will give the keynote address to the World Food Prize Foundation's 2013 Ohio Youth Institute on Sept. 5 at the Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center on The Ohio State University campus.

Quinn will be available for media interviews before and after his 1-1:30 p.m. address.

Contact Martha Filipic, 614-292-9833 or filipic.3@osu.edu, to make arrangements.

Background: Each year, more than 100 high school students from across the United States and other countries are selected to participate in the three-day Global Youth Institute hosted by the World Food Prize Foundation in Des Moines, Iowa, in mid-October. Students and their teacher mentors interact with Nobel and World Food Prize laureates and discuss pressing food security and agricultural issues with international experts.

The Sept. 5 event is the qualifying event for Ohio students and is sponsored by Ohio State's College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.

During the 2013 Ohio Youth Institute, more than 40 high school students from around the state will participate in a speaking and writing competition on the topic "Ending Hunger in Our Lifetime: A Call to Action." Afterward, about 10 will be chosen for interviews, and six will be chosen to attend the Global Youth Institute. Participants at the national institute can apply for internships at agricultural research institutes throughout the world. In recent years, Ohio participants have obtained internships in Bangladesh, Taiwan, India, Kenya, Mexico and the U.S.

Who: Kenneth M. Quinn, president of the World Food Prize Foundation and former U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia

What: Keynote speaker at the 2013 Ohio Youth Institute of the World Food Prize Foundation

When: Sept. 5, 2013. Program: 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Keynote: 1 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Where: Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center, 2201 Fred Taylor Drive, Columbus

Other presentations of interest:

9:45-10 a.m.: World Food Prize Overview, Keegan Kautzky, director of National Education Programs, the World Food Prize Foundation

12:15-12:30 p.m.: Liz Roche, undergraduate student in plant pathology and past recipient of two World Food Prize internships, including eight weeks at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico in 2011

Contacts:

Jane Wright, Ohio 4-H program manager, wright.646@osu.edu, 614-292-0909

Sally McClaskey, Ohio 4-H program coordinator, mcclaskey.12@osu.edu, 614-247-8141

Martha Filipic, communications office, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, filipic.3@osu.edu, 614-292-9833