The Foreign Service Journal, February 2012

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 2 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 51 AFSA’s High School Essay Contest Offers New Prize BY PERRI GREEN, SPECIAL AWARDS AND OUTREACH COORDINATOR T his year’s 14th annual AFSA High School Essay Contest will be extra special, offering amuch bigger prize for the winner than ever before, generat- ing more entries and teaching more stu- dents about the Foreign Service in the process. AFSA is now partnering with Booz AllenHamilton and Semester at Sea to offer this exciting competition. The student who writes the winning essay will be awarded $2,500, a trip to Washington, D.C., with his or her parents tomeet the Secretary of State, and a fully- funded Semester at Sea (upon acceptance to an accredited college). Semester at Sea is administered by the Institute for Shipboard Education, with the University of Virginia serving as aca- demic sponsor. The M.V. Explorer is the campus, taking students on a voyage trav- eling the world while completing a se- mester of classes. On Dec. 2 and 3, AFSA staff members Perri Green and Shawn Dorman, along with Semester at Sea Assistant Director of Admissions Holly Tawil, managed an in- formation table at the National Council on Social Studies Conference inWashing- ton, D.C. The conference draws more than 4,000 social studies teachers and school administrators from every state. The event offered a terrific opportunity to get the word out about the essay con- test, as well as highlightingAFSA’s Inside a U.S. Embassy , a key resource for students learning about the Foreign Service. Sev- eral hundred high school teachers and rep- resentatives from professional academic organizations came by the AFSA/Semes- ter at Sea table to pick up information and talk to our representatives. As many teachers asked how they could participate in the Semester at Sea program, AFSA is now considering the possibility of creating a competition for teachers to submit a curriculum on American diplomacy, a subject not cur- rently taught in most high schools. Please tell the high schoolers in your life (who are not children of Foreign Serv- ice, Booz Allen Hamilton or Semester at Sea employees) about AFSA’s essay contest. Information on the contest may be found at www.afsa.org/essaycontest; information on Inside a U.S. Embassy for the classroom at www.afsa.org/inside; and more about Semester at Sea at www.semesteratsea.org. A F S A N E W S (L to R) A conference participant stops by the AFSA/Semester at Sea table, managed by AFSA staff Perri Green and Shawn Dorman, and SAS staff member Holly Tawil. Each year, the Associates of the American Foreign Service Worldwide honors outstanding volunteers serving abroad by presenting the Secretary of State Awards. In December, the awards ceremony added the Dorman Award for extraordinary, sustained volunteerism on behalf of the Foreign Service to former AAFSW President Faye Barnes. (L to R) Barnes, Sosa winner Matthew David Meredith; Jessa Farquhar, accepting for her mother, SOSA winner Chong O. Far- quhar; SOSA winner Edward "Mick" Davis; Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns; SOSA winner Nam Anandaroopa Nguyen; SOSA winner Maria Del Car- men Miller; and SOSA winner Sean P. Myers. Donna Ayerst