Ballston Spa High School Student, Kelsea Davenport to Attend the World Food Prize Global Youth Institute

Ballston Spa High School senior, Kelsea Davenport, has been selected to attend the 2025 World Food Prize (WFP) Global Youth Institute (GYI). Kelsea is one of nine delegates from New York State, joining 150 students from across the world to be invited to share her research and recommendations with international experts and peers during a week-long academic conference this October in Des Moines, IA. Her paper, Planting New Hope for Pakistan: Treating Roots, will be published and made accessible to the public by the World Food Prize Foundation. 

Kelsea’s research began a year ago in October 2024 when Clean Tech ECHS, a NYS P-TECH School, juniors at TEC-SMART were offered the opportunity to conduct long-term, comprehensive research of a global food-security challenge as part of the World Food Prize New York Youth Institute (NYYI). Student papers were evaluated by a WFP Board of Reviewers, which includes university educators and distinguished food security experts. Ten ECHS juniors, now seniors, presented their findings at the NYYI this past March 21 at Cornell University, earning them the distinguished recognition as Bourlaug Scholars. The top students from each state's Youth Institute are competitively selected as delegates to the World Food Prize Global Youth Institute held each year in Des Moines, IA.  Kelsea’s selection as one of the nine student delegates representing NYS at this event is a sincere honor to her commitment to food security within her local community and across the world.