Maiah Iseminger and Daley Trost, undergraduates at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½ at ²Ñ¨¡²Ô´Ç²¹ (CTAHR), earned first place in the state¡¯²õ first-ever Food Policy Hackathon.
A multitude of UH ²Ñ¨¡²Ô´Ç²¹ students from CTAHR were among teams that gathered from across the state to address food insecurity, one of Â鶹´«Ã½¡¯²õ most pressing problems in a time of increased food costs. Iseminger and Trost proposed a pilot program to help public school families make sure they have enough food during a natural disaster by retrofitting kitchens and creating a food storage area.Their pilot would include one school in a hurricane evacuation area from every state Department of Education complex.
“It was rewarding to use creativity to try and solve a real world problem,” said Iseminger, a senior in CTAHR¡¯²õ .
Innovative and impactful solutions
The two-day hackathon brought together bright minds to tackle key issues identified during the 2025 Â鶹´«Ã½ Food Summit. Participants were challenged to collaborate, research and design innovative policy solutions, leading up to concise and impactful five-minute presentations.
“Seeing so many minds work toward a shared goal was uplifting,” said Trost, a sophmore in . “And when you are in the same physical space as others, it creates respect for them and their opinions.”
Both students are now developing a policy proposal to address food import dependence and insecurity in Â鶹´«Ã½ for their environmental policy course.
The Â鶹´«Ã½ Food Policy Hackathon was co-sponsored by the Stupski Foundation and Â鶹´«Ã½ Food+ Policy which is an internship program that empowers college students and young farmers to become advocates for a more sustainable and resilient food system in Â鶹´«Ã½.
