The Foreign Service Journal, October 2011

O n Aug. 9, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton pre- sentedGrant Jirka, a rising senior atColumbusHighSchool in Columbus, Neb., with the first-place award in AFSA’s 12th-annual National High School Essay Contest. Jirka’s parents, JerryandSusie Jirka,were inattendance. Theaward includes a$2,500 prize from the Fund for American Diplomacy. Grant’s winning essay, “United States and China: A Powerful Combination,” addressed a number of bilateral issues, including the valuation of the renminbi, intellectual property rights, coun- terfeiting, human rights, environmental concerns, censorship and the trade deficit. The essaycontest challengedstudents towrite about howemploy- ees of the Foreign Service promote U.S. national interests by par- ticipating in the resolutionof today’smajor international problems. An AFSA advisory panel of judges selected the first-place winner, as well as 24 finalists who received honorable mention certificates. The 2011 contest attractedmore than 300 submissions fromhigh school students nationwide. One of the goals of AFSA’s annual essay contest is to stimu- late interest in a Foreign Service career. The contest is open to all high school students attending a public, private, parochial or home school, or participating in a high school correspondence program anywhere in the U.S., as well as U.S. citizen students attending schools overseas. Students whose parents aremembers of the Foreign Service, or have served on AFSA’s advisory panel, are ineligible. AFSAcoordinator for Special Awards andOutreachPerriGreen has administeredAFSA’sNationalHighSchool EssayContest since its inception in1999. Formore information about the contest and to read this year’s winning essay, please visit AFSA’s Web site at www.afsa.org/essaycontest. Secretary Clinton Congratulates AFSA’s 2011 Essay Contest Winner BY REBEKAH YURCO, PUBLIC AFFAIRS INTERN Booz Allen Hamilton OnAug. 24, AFSA announced a part- nershipwithBoozAllenHamilton, one of the world’s premier global strategy and technology consulting companies. The newpartnershipwill produce a series of lec- tures featuring noted leaders and diplo- matic experts throughout 2011 and into 2012. The series, “A New Frontier in Diplomacy and Development: People andPrograms,” is designed to advance dis- cussion about America’s crucial need for “smart” diplomacy and development, and especially the need to provide today’s Foreign Service personnel the skills required in the challenging environment in which they work. AFSA President Susan Johnson com- mented that “the Foreign Servicemust be able tooffermore, andbetter, professional education and training, including on-the- job tradecraft mentoring, to carry out the high-quality diplomatic and develop- ment work that our nation’s interests require.” She added, “This new series will help advance discussionon this important topic.” The first event in this series took place on Friday, Sept. 9, at AFSA headquarters, and looked at “9/11 Ten Years Later: Its Impact on theConduct ofDiplomacy and Development.” Beginning in 2012, Booz AllenHamil- tonwill also supportAFSA’sNationalHigh School Essay Contest. Institute for Shipboard Education OnAug. 9, AFSA signed an agreement with the Institute for ShipboardEducation, aworld leader inshipboardeducation. ISE’s program, Semester at Sea, provides college students with a global, comparative study abroadprogramthat is academically spon- sored by the University of Virginia. The collaboration between AFSA and ISEwill focus on several initiatives for the benefit of their respective constituencies. ISE has generously offered a full schol- arship on a fall or spring semester voy- age to the first-place winner of AFSA’s National High School Essay contest. In turn, AFSA will assist ISE in establishing a network of diplomatic speakers from our embassies in the ports of call on voy- age itineraries. AFSAand ISEwill explore othermutu- ally beneficial opportunities consistent with each organization’s philosophy,mis- sion and interests. AFSA Announces New Partnerships with Booz Allen Hamilton and the Institute for Shipboard Education OC T OB E R 2 0 1 1 / F OR E I GN S E R V I C E J OU R N A L 67 Sec. Clinton presents Grant Jirka with the first place award for the 2011 AFSA High School Essay Contest on Aug. 9. Left to right: Susie Jirka, Sec. Clinton, Grant Jirka, and Jerry Jirka. DEPARTMENT OF STATE