By Heather Lusk

Next month five Zionsville Community High School students will travel to Purdue University to present research reports suggesting creative solutions to food insecurity in a specific country.

Among them will be senior Sabria Abufares, who presented at last year’s World Food Prize Youth Institute and was one of 12 students selected to be a delegate to the Global Youth Institute in October. The three-day event gave 400 students from around the world the opportunity to meet Nobel and World Food Prize Laureates and discuss various aspects of food insecurity.

“After going to the World Food Prize, I realized food isn’t just about food, you can’t just throw money at a problem and expect it to be solved,” Abufares said. “There’s all these aspects, some people focus on fishery, some people focus on data analysis. There’s a lot of politics that goes on with food.”

Last year, the first time AP Biology instructor Lori Bing had suggested her students participate, Abufares researched South Korea originally, unsure why such an urbanized country was considered food insecure. She discovered that urbanization has created a decrease in young people living in the country farming and suggested educating the city dwellers how to connect with the environment, educating the farmers and providing government subsidies.

This year Abufares’ focus is Syria, and she will be the only ZCHS senior among four juniors submitting their work. Although as a senior she can’t be chosen for the Global Youth Institute, “going to Purdue was fun on its own,” she said.

What she’s learned from the experience has influenced the direction she would like to take in her future studies, and she has plans to pursue a degree in biomedical engineering.

“If I go into what I love, biomedical engineering, I’m sure that i can find some way to twist it to support my views and what I want to do,” she said. “Help people wherever I can.”