She's not serving or defending anything. This is an ego trip for bragging rights and it is NOT worth her life!
Even if it’s not just ego trip, her parents were supposed to protect her. They failed to. It’s a real shame.
It has value to her. She’s been preparing for this for years. Why do individual acts have to have value to other people?
Is there no sense of accomplishment in achievement for achievement’s sake?
She also had a list of sponsors who contributed to the trip in which case her parents would likely have been contractually obligated to send her. I can understand how some people believe her parents should be prosecuted.