Alaina Gebel’s freshman year of college, she participated in the Dean’s Global Agriculture and Food Leadership program to Rome, Italy in the summer of 2024. Alaina chose to participate in this program because she always dreamed of traveling to Rome. However, after participating in the program, she realized that it would change the course of her college career. The Dean’s Program focuses on combining coursework at Iowa State and on-site work experience with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. Alaina collaborated with three other Iowa State students and FAO staff members to research the impacts and barriers for smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa to adopt mobile phone applications. This research experience helped her realize her passion for helping people globally through education and youth engagement. At the conclusion of the program, her team presented their research findings to staff members at the FAO Headquarters. Her teams’ research will be beneficial for FAO staff to continue their work in technology advancement in Sub-Saharan Africa. 
Currently a junior at Iowa State majoring in Agricultural and Life Sciences Education and Global Resource Systems, Alaina is serving as President of the International Association of Students in Agricultural and Related Sciences club at Iowa State. IAAS is an international youth organization active in over fifty countries focused on promoting international agriculture knowledge sharing. Through her role in this organization, she served as a delegate for IAAS to the 2025 World Food Forum in Rome, Italy in October at the FAO Headquarters. This event focused on bringing together stakeholders from around the world and turning ideas into action. The Forum hosted cultural showcases, panel discussions, and youth consultations throughout the week. Alaina had the opportunity to assist in the facilitation of a youth consultation on climate change due to her role in IAAS.
After atte
nding the World Food Forum, Alaina was energized to continue building on the knowledge she gained at the event and apply it to real world action. Therefore, she applied for an internship with the FAO and was selected to serve as an intern within the Office of Youth and Women. She will be living and working in Rome from June till December tasked with establishing World Food Forum Youth chapters in North America. These chapters help create a network of partners and organizations and create projects to drive action in transforming the agrifood system through youth engagement.
What began as a study abroad trip to Rome became a defining turning point, transforming Alaina’s college journey and leading her to at opportunity at the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization.