36 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2024 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL private, and we especially seek to maximize our outreach to help students in schools with fewer resources. We strive to bring together as many different perspectives as possible, because an active exchange of and compromise between different ideas is a cornerstone of diplomacy. Every chapter inspires and supports students with a passion for international relations. Interacting with Diplomats … and Each Other Fast-forward to the present, the High School Foreign Service Association continues to grow. From Alaska to Georgia, HSFSA The High School Foreign Service Association is active in 21 states. We cherish the diversity of our community, and we are happy that students from Alaska to Florida are passionate about diplomacy and foreign policy. Our superstates—Florida, Virginia, and California, each with more than five chapters—are marked in blue. By November 2022, when HSFSA celebrated its first anniversary, we were up to 30 chapters, well beyond our original goal of 10. has chapters in 21 states and is working to expand in each. The three superstates are Florida, Virginia, and California, each with more than five chapters, and the overall HSFSA community has exceeded 77 schools. Our ranks have expanded to more than 1,500 members. HSFSA’s primary value comes from the guest speakers AFSA helps us find. We bring career diplomats to high schools to engage with young people interested in foreign affairs. The inaugural lecture took place at the first chapter on Feb. 4, 2022. The speaker was Ambassador Hugo Llorens, a veteran of diplomacy who served as U.S. ambassador to Honduras (20082011) and acting ambassador in Afghanistan (2016-2017), among many other senior positions during his 36-year Foreign Service career. “I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to speak with the students at Gulliver Prep in Miami back in 2022. I found the students well informed and intellectually curious about foreign policy. My goal was to spur the students’ interest in someday considering an international career. Whether in government or the private sector, I wanted them to gain an appreciation of how world events impact our lives in the U.S.,” Llorens reflected HSFSA/MAPHUB.NET
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy ODIyMDU=