The Foreign Service Journal, June 2007

J UN E 2 0 0 7 / F OR E I GN S E R V I C E J OU R N A L 61 T he U.S. foreign affairs community recognizes and rewards qualification through merit; the Foreign Service is, in effect, a meritocracy. The entrance examinations (both written and oral) are extended and demanding; all members of the ForeignService community are repeat- edly examined throughout their careers and are rewarded for outstanding perfor- mance. Consequently, Foreign Service person- nel seek out excellence and desire to rec- ognize and encourage its development. It is particularly appropriate that, among its many activities, the American Foreign Service Association supports dependents of ForeignService employees in their uni- versity education. Educational assistance is always devised tobalanceneedandmerit; AFSA’s scholarship assistance is primari- lydirected toward four-year support of aca- demically qualified students basedon their requirements for financial aid. There are, however, a substantial num- ber of Foreign Service dependentswhodo not qualify for assistance based on need. AFSA recognizes such students through one-time merit awards offered to gradu- ating high school seniors. Awards are offered forbothacademic andartisticmerit. The academic merit awards are based on a combination of academic excellence (measuredby grade point average andSAT scores), extracurricular activity (particular- ly community service), and a short person- al essay. The artmerit award is granted to a student either intending to pursue a fine arts educationor having a serious commit- ment to the fine arts through visual arts, musical arts, dance or creative writing. The academic merit award essay is a special test of excellence. It is a significant element in the scoring for the award, and a serious candidate instantly appreciates it will not be possible just to retool a stan- dard university essay. The topic of this year’s essay was “My Most Memorable ForeignService Experience.” Requiring all applicants towrite on a single general topic directs the judging to the same areas for comparison. Although grammar is an ele- ment in the scoring, the judges mainly focus on coherence and evocative style. As one might imagine, the merit award candidate essays reflect the candi- dates; they are intelligent and multifac- eted; widely traveled and diversely expe- rienced. This year, many noted the effects of community service in Kenya, Jordan, Ecuador and China, inter alia, with the prediction that an initial experience would lead to a lifetime of such effort. (As one applicant wrote, “They were pushing boulders while I was only try- ing to move a pebble.”) They wrote of the stress of evacuations and the ongo- ing anguish of family members separat- ed by combat or the threat of terrorism. A few of the topics and themes covered by this year’s candidates include: • A physically exhausting trek to the peak ofMount Kilimanjaro that prompt- ed a “Why amI doing this?” question and raised concerns about the consequences of climate change; • A limbless beggar onaChinesebridge, seen as emblematic of those who desper- ately need help; • The combination of curiosity and openness of Senegalese children, demon- strating that hospitality is the key to cul- ture; and • The global presence of baseball, which canbe as simple as “play ball” inone coun- try, but can illustrate bureaucraticmanip- ulation and corruption in anotoher. In the essays, a reader sees the tension inflicted by new posts and reassignment (“At first I considered it a plague of some sort”), leading to adaptation (“Change to me is like breathing”), or to greater depths of insight (“Withall this change, you need constants … being myself is one of my constants”), and the desire to share the specialized knowledge that comes from Foreign Service experience (“My knowl- edgewasmore like auniquepiece toa giant puzzle of knowledge … I am unique but so is everyone”). And finally, “My entire life has been a ForeignService experience.” This year there were 65 applicants for the academic merit award and 16 for the art merit award. For academic merit awards, the judges selected 15winners and six honorablementions. Onewinner was chosen by the judges for the art merit award, along with two honorable men- tions. The winner of the best essay is Emma Cunningham, who demonstrates with great sensitivity that service in a Mother Teresa-sponsoredorphanage can affect the server perhaps asmuch as the served. The winning essay will be published in the July/August edition of the Foreign Service Journal , along with an article about all of the winners of the 2007 merit awards. More information about this year’s win- ners and about theAFSA scholarshippro- gram can be found on the association’s Web site at www.afsa.org/scholar . o A F S A N E W S THE AFSA MERIT AWARDS AFSA Lends a Hand to FS Students BY DAVID JONES, MERIT AWARDS JUDGE As one might imagine, the merit award candidate essays reflect the candidates; they are intelligent and multifaceted; widely traveled and diversely experienced.