BHS senior wins international internship

Font Size:

| Thursday, May 26, 2005 3:14 AM CDT | () comments

John Willard

Erin Cavanagh, a senior at Bettendorf High School, will study for eight weeks in Costa Rica this summer as a Borlaug-Ruan International Intern.

Erin, 17, daughter of Mary and Tom Cavanagh, of Bettendorf, was among 13 students selected for the honor from the almost 100 participants in the World Food Prize Youth Institute held in Des Moines last October.

The institute is sponsored by the World Food Prize Foundation, which administers the World Food Prize. The award, presented annually, recognizes individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity and availability of food in the world.

During the World Food Prize Youth Institute, participating students and their teachers interact with Nobel and World Food Prize laureates at a three-day, all-expenses paid forum. The students present research papers during a day-long seminar before a panel of World Food Prize Council of Advisors and Laureates. The papers are judged, and the winners receive eight-week, paid international internships.

Cavanagh's paper, "The Importance of Increased Water Efficiency in Rice Production," explores how the world's shortage of water impacts on the cost of producing rice and offers upland rice grown in Brazil as an alternative to traditional methods of growing rice that depend on large amounts of standing water.

She will study at the Monteverde Institute in Monteverde de Puntarenas, Costa Rica. The institute was founded in 1986 by Monteverde residents and visitors as a member-governed Costa Rican non-profit education association.

She graduates May 29 from Bettendorf High, where she earned a 4.0 grade-point average. She will be a Presidential Scholar this fall at the University of Iowa, where she plans to study pre-law.

In 1993, the Monteverde Institute established its core program, education for a sustainable future. The program is based on the idea that sustainability requires a consideration of environmental, social, economic and technical factors.

The World Food Prize, created in 1986, was the idea of Norman E. Borlaug, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his work in world agriculture. It is sponsored by Des Moines businessman and philanthropist John Ruan.

� John Willard