Dillard named a World Food Prize international intern

(Photo by Kris Todd) Sarah Dillard has received notification that she's been named an intern in this summer's World Food Prize Borlaug-Ruan International Internship Program. Although not officially placed yet, the Spencer High School junior has received word she may serve at the International Maize and Wheat Research Center in Ankara, Turkey. [Order this photo]

It's a good thing classes started two hours late on Wednesday.

The delay gave Sarah Dillard the chance to check her mailbox for an important letter she'd been anticipating.

As the 17-year-old daughter of Rod and Patricia "Trish" Dillard opened her family's mailbox at 9:30 a.m., she found a letter neatly tucked inside from the World Food Prize, which strives to advance human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world. Upon opening the letter, Dillard learned that she'd been accepted to serve as an intern in the World Food Prize Borlaug-Ruan International Internship Program.

The letter couldn't have come at a better time. Dillard is among the eight Spencer High School (SHS) students traveling to Houston today to participate in the 2009 Space Settlement Design Competition, scheduled from March 6-8 at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Johnson Space Center.

Students named Borlaug-Ruan international interns, meanwhile, are required to first attend the World Food Prize Youth Institute. Dillard, a SHS junior, had been hoping for an internship notification ever since her freshman year, the first year she participated in the youth institute.

As a World Food Prize Youth Institute student participant, she has submitted a 4-5 page research essay each year. The first, written her freshman year, was how indigenous farmers in Peru could be assisted with their overall feed sustenance. Dillard's sophomore year submission detailed how India's agriculture situation could be improved through the implementation of jatropha, as well as women's increased involvement in society. This year, her youth institute essay described augmenting the nutritional value of food and increasing the amount of food given to people in Darfur -- a region in western Sudan. The SHS junior also explained how improving the region's infrastructure -- using a multilateral view run primarily by non-governmental organizations -- would help get food to its people.

While all World Food Prize Borlaug-Ruan interns have not yet been named, Dillard is eagerly anticipating an internship running from the end of May through the end of August at the International Maize and Wheat Research Center in Ankara, Turkey. As one of the first World Food Prize interns to be based in this new center, she will join those who've served before her. Like Dillard, all have had the goal of increasing the sustainability of food in the world.

"This is something I know I can do well. This is something that I know I can excel at, and it's really kind of what I want to do with my life," Dillard said. " ... When I'm older, I want to become a doctor who works primarily in Third World countries, especially refugee camps with organizations like Doctors Without Borders. A doctor doesn't just have to treat the immediate cause; he or she also has to treat the underlying cause."

She continued, "The thing is, a lot of people's symptoms in Third World countries are exacerbated by the fact that they are getting poor nutrition and are starving. So, this is something I really want to do because I feel that by doing this, I can help increase the nutritional value of food worldwide, as well as increase the amount of food getting to people."

Dillard has not been officially placed in the Turkey research center, though. She still needs to receive approval from the Turkey government. She also needs a home host approved for the all-expenses-paid internship.

Once she arrives at her destination, Dillard will have about a week of orientation.

"At the end of that period, I can come up with a research project I can do myself or I can jump onto a research project already being done at the center and help scientists do that. That research project should span the entirety of my stay," she explained. "At the end of my internship, I'm required to write a long paper ... on everything I did in the country. I'll then present it at next year's World Food Prize Youth Institute to all the young people who are there, in hopes that they will also apply to be an intern."

"The World Food Prize has been such a great experience for me," Dillard continued advocating. "Through the World Food Prize Youth Institute, I've had the opportunity to meet famous people and to talk to some of the world's top scientists. I've taken pictures with Bob Dole. I've spoken to George McGovern. And, I've actually eaten lunch with some of the world's top scientists, like Dr. Monty Jones. I've also met the ambassadors to and from Senegal and Zimbabwe."

* Dillard joins SHS alumna Everly Slawson, who spent eight weeks at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines as a 2001 World Food Prize intern.