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High school students are a significant part of our pub-
lic outreach – to create fans of the Foreign Service, it
is important to reach them early in order to make the
case for America’s global leadership and the founda-
tional role of the Foreign Service in maintaining that
leadership. We have partnered with the World Affairs
Councils, the National Model UN and 4-H to reach these
audiences. AFSA’s highly successful essay contest
continues to engage students, with a record num-
ber of submissions—over 700—this year and new or
ongoing partnerships with the U.S. Institute of Peace,
Semester at Sea and the National Student Leadership
Conference.
Our university outreach also continues to gather steam.
Our existing partnerships with schools such as Ameri-
can University bring us into contact with intelligent and
enthusiastic young people. Our innovative diplomatic
benchmarking project with graduate students at the
University of Texas – Austin brings AFSA further into
this space (see page 28). This year, AFSA also made a
significant effort to reach out to and collaborate with
Diplomats in Residence. To that end, our first reception
for the DIRs in July was very successful and we expect
to make that an annual event.
ENGAGING STUDENTS
This year’s High School
Essay Winner Thomas
Keller traveled to Wash-
ington, D.C., to meet with
Secretary of State John
Kerry. (Department of
State/James Pan)
2016 essay contest
winner Dylan Borne with
then-Secretary of State
John Kerry.
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