THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2025 61 AFSA NEWS College Scholarships Available Applications are now open for more than $400,000 in college aid to children of AFSA members. Financial Aid: In 2025 AFSA will award more than $260,000 in need-based financial aid to incoming or current college undergraduates. Last year, 75 students were awarded scholarships ranging from $2,000 to $6,000. Apply by April 18, 2025. Merit Aid: In 2025 AFSA will award more than $150,000 in merit aid to high school seniors. Last year, 43 students received grants. Scholarship amounts range from $1,500 to $3,500 in categories such as academic merit, art merit, community service, and best essay. Apply by March 10, 2025. The AFSA Scholarship Program is made possible through generous donations from our partners at DACOR as well as individual donations. No AFSA membership dues are used for the AFSA Scholarship Program. For full details or to apply, visit https://afsa.org/scholar. n ADST Seeks Stories of Service With support from the Una Chapman Cox Foundation, the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training (ADST) has launched its Century of Service initiative to publicize firsthand accounts of U.S. diplomats’ contributions to communities around the world. In addition to drawing excerpts from its collection of more than 2,600 diplomatic oral histories, ADST is calling on current and former Foreign Service officers to submit firsthand accounts of when and how they made a concrete contribution to advance the interests of U.S. citizens, businesses, workers, or farmers, or in support of U.S. prosperity, security, and ideals. Submit your story of service to CenturyofService@adst.org. ADST will share these stories on its website (https://adst.org/century-of-service) to raise awareness of the work diplomats do on behalf of our nation every day. Whether you closed a deal, opened a door, saved the day, or simply lived up to what America represents to the rest of the world, ADST is ready to share your story. Contact ADST Executive Director Tom Selinger at tom.selinger@adst.org with questions. n NEWS BRIEF Retiree Corner Stay Connected with Colleagues Foreign Service retirees are encouraged to join one of the 15 foreign affairs retiree associations located around the country. These groups, while independent of AFSA, support the common goal of keeping Foreign Service retirees and other former foreign affairs personnel in touch with each other and the profession to which they dedicated decades of their lives. There are groups in California, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, the District of Columbia, North Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington state, in addition to groups covering multiple states in the Midwest and New England. Their activities vary but typically include outings, local advocacy efforts, and luncheons with guest speakers. A list of the groups with contact information is included in the 2025 AFSA Directory of Retired Members and on the AFSA website at https://afsa.org/ retiree-associations. If you live near one of these areas, please consider contacting the organizer to join. If there isn’t a retiree association in your state or area, and you are interested in starting one, AFSA can help get the word out. Email member@afsa.org for more information. n JOSH
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