The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2008

68 F OR E I GN S E R V I C E J OU R N A L / J U L Y - A UGU S T 2 0 0 8 A F S A N E W S A FSA is proud to announce the 26 Foreign Service high school seniors who were selected as the 2008 AFSA Merit Award winners. AFSA congratulates these students for their academic and artistic achieve- ments. These one-time-only awards, totaling $35,700, were bestowed on May 2 during Foreign Affairs Day. Winners received $1,800 and honor- able-mentionwinners received $800. The best-essay winner and the com- munity-service winner each received $250 for those awards. Judges were individuals from the Foreign Service community. This year, 54 students competed for the 15 Academic Merit Awards. They were judged on their grade-point average, Scholastic Assessment Test scores, essays, letters of recommendation, extracurricular activities and any special circumstances. From the Academic Merit Award applicants, the committee selected a best-essay winner (Benjamin Winnick) and a com- munity service winner (Margaret Soderholm). Fifteen students submitted art merit applications under one of the fol- lowing categories: visual arts, musical arts, drama or creative writing. Applicants were judged on their submissions, letters of recommendation and essays. Brendan Ternus was selected as the Art Merit Award winner for his short story and poem submission. Jason Curtis and Elizabeth Hogeman were selected as the Art Merit Award honorable-mention win- ners. Jason submitted a composition for piano and synthesized musical instrument, while Elizabeth entered photographs. AFSAhas established eight academicmerit named scholarships to date, and these awards are bestowed on the highest-scoring students. The recip- ients of these scholarships were: Jason Curtis, for the Associates of the American Foreign ServiceWorldwide Scholarship; Michael Haggblade, for the John and Priscilla Becker Family Scholarship; Hana Passen and Paul VanKoughnett, for theTurnerC. CameronMemorial Scholarships; Shannon Hicks, for the John C. Leary Memorial Scholarship; Christopher Huskey and Brendan Ternus, for the Joanna and RobertMartin Scholarships; and JoanCummins, for theDonald S. andMariaGiuseppa Spigler Scholarship. For more information on the AFSA Scholarship Program — merit awards and financial aid awards — or how to establish a named scholar- ship, contact Lori Dec at (202) 944-5504, or dec@afsa.org, or visit ourWeb site at www.afsa.org/scholar/. 2008 AFSA Merit Award Winners Joan Cummins – daughter of Kathryn Hoffman (State) and Paul Cummins; graduate of Washington-Lee High School, Arlington, Va.; attending the University of California at Los Angeles, majoring in theater and history; designated the AFSA/DonaldS.SpiglerMemor- ialandMariaGiuseppaSpigler Scholar. Jason Curtis – son of Keith Curtis (FCS) and Bert Schoen Curtis (State); graduate of StockholmInternationalSchool; attending the Frank W. Olin CollegeofEngineeringinMass., majoring in engineering; des- ignatedtheAFSA/AAFSWScho- lar and an AFSA Art Merit Awardhonorable-mentionwin- ner. MelissaGallant – daughter of Rosemary Gallant (FCS) and JonathanGallant; graduate of the International School of Brussels; attending Wellesley College, majoring in Chinese anddevelopmentaleconomics. E.LowellReade – son of Evan Reade (State) and Mary Rose Reade; graduate of the American School in Tokyo; attendingHarveyMuddCollege in California, majoring in engi- neering. Brendan Ternus – son of Scott Ternus (State) andMary Ternus(State);graduateof the American School in London; attending Yale University, majoring in English or theater; designated the Joanna and Robert Martin Scholar and AFSA’s Art Merit Award Winner. Nathan Keesling – son of JonathanKeesling(State)and Robyn Keesling; graduate of FrankfurtInternationalSchool; attendingBrighamYoungUni- versity, majoring in computer science. KateMiller –daughterofLloyd Miller (USAID) and Roberta Miller;graduateofCairoAmeri- can College; attending Dart- mouth College. Hana Passen – daughter of Andrew Passen (State) and JeaneHarris (State); graduate of the American International School of Lusaka; attending PrincetonUniversity;designat- ed the AFSA/Turner C. Camer- on Memorial Scholar. Iain Addleton – son of Jonathan Addleton (USAID) andFionaAddleton;graduate of Mount de Sales Academy, Macon, Ga.; attending David- son College in N.C., majoring in political science or eco- nomics. Academic Merit Winners Hannah Groch-Begley – daughterofJohnGroch(State) andValerieBegley;graduateof Singapore American School; attending Vassar College, majoringinhistoryanddrama.