The Foreign Service Journal, March 2017

64 MARCH 2017 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL AFSA NEWS This year, AFSA celebrates the 90th anniversary of its scholarship program. The first AFSA scholarship was established in 1926 by Elizabeth Harriman in honor of her son, Oliver Bishop Harriman, a Foreign Service officer who died while serving overseas. Since that time, AFSA has bestowed more than $5 million in college aid on more than 3,000 stu- dents. The AFSA Scholarship Fund has now grown to $8.1 million dollars, thanks to the generous donations of hun- dreds of individuals and orga- nizations who have estab- lished annual and perpetual scholarships. AFSA particu- larly thanks DACOR for their annual scholarships, which are administered by the AFSA Scholarship Program. Every March, the Schol- arship Committee receives financial aid applications from Foreign Service depen- dents who are full-time students. The committee reviews all applications and, taking into account a number of factors (including family income and assets), selects the financial aid scholarship recipients. Awards range from $3,000 to $5,000 each. Since AFSA scholarships differ in size, smaller ones are bundled together to make larger awards, while some of the larger ones are broken into several smaller awards. Students make one applica- tion; the Scholarship Com- mittee matches students to the appropriate scholarships, in accordance with any spe- cial instruction or restrictions on each scholarship. Recipients receive biographical information about their award donors, and submit thank-you letters and photos to the donor or their family. In this way, AFSA seeks to strengthen the connections within the Foreign Service, between generations, and to foster a sense of community among its members. For the 2016-2017 school year, 67 undergraduate students received 134 named financial aid scholarship awards totaling $208,000. On the following pages the AFSA Financial Aid Scholarship recipients for the 2016-2017 academic year are listed, along with the named AFSA scholar- ships they received. The program is run under the oversight of the AFSA Schol- arship Committee and the AFSA Governing Board. AFSA also confers a number of merit award scholarships, which are open to graduating high school seniors. Information about the 2016-2017 merit award recipients will appear in a future issue of AFSA News. For more information about AFSA Financial Aid and Merit Award Scholarships, please visit www.afsa.org/ scholar or contact Lori Dec, AFSA Scholarship Director, at (202) 944 5504 or dec@ afsa.org . Financial Aid Scholars 1. Najee Agu— recipient of the Edith K. andWilbur J. Carr Memorial Scholarship and the Gertrude Stewart Memorial Scholarship. He is attending Old Dominion University. 2. Brenden Aguasvivas— recipient of the Colonel Richard R. Hallock Memorial Scholarship and the Doro- thy Osborne and Theodore Xanthaky Memorial Scholar- ship. He is attending St. Louis University. Spotlight on Scholarship Donors Marilyn Holmes Annual Memorial Scholarship Ambassador H. Allen Holmes, with assistance from friends and colleagues, has established the annual Marilyn Holmes Memorial Financial Aid Scholarship in tribute to his wife, who passed away in May 2016. It will be awarded in the 2017-2018 school year. Marilyn Holmes was an award-winning documentary producer for the U.S. State Department. She was recog- nized with the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Public Service Award for her innovative television news programs designed to keep employees informed on the latest diplo- matic developments. In 1980, Mrs. Holmes was named director of the State Department’s Family Liaison Office. One of her major achievements in this role was negotiating reciprocal work agreements with foreign governments to allow Foreign Service spouses to work in their countries. It is organizations like yours that inspire young adults like me to reach our goals in life. —Najee Agu, Junior, Old Dominion University Celebrating 90Years: The 2016-2017 AFSA Financial Aid Scholars