The Foreign Service Journal, September 2006

76 F OR E I GN S E R V I C E J OU R N A L / S E P T EMB E R 2 0 0 6 AFSAestablished the high school essay contest seven years ago to encourage American high school students to learn more about the functions of the U.S. ForeignService, the craft of diplomacy and America’s role in the world. More than 3,000 submissions havebeen received since the programbegan, fromstudents inall 50 states. The contest continues to be one of AFSA’smost successful outreach activities. Out of this year’s 300 submissions, three outstanding essayswere selected as contest winners and the writers were honored at the July ceremony. Though the contest allows participants to write about any of today’s major inter- national issues, all three of this year’s win- ners wrote about international develop- ment topics. Eva Lam of Milwaukee, received the first-place AFSA award of $2,500 for her essay on empowering women in Afghanistan. Second place went to Kimberly Hayward of Oak Lawn, Ill., for her essay on the role of Foreign Service officers in bridging the education gender gap in Africa. Third place went to Karina Legradi of Tampa, Fla., for her essay on the role of the Service in thewar on drug trafficking inColombia and Afghanistan. EvaLamthankedAFSAfor the “oppor- tunity to familiarize ourselves, as children who aren’t children of the American ForeignService, with this side of American foreignpolicy that doesn’t involve guns and bombs.” In particular, she thanked Steve Kashkett and AFSA Executive Director Susan Reardon for their efforts. Lam, a graduate of Rufus King High School, will be attending Harvard University this fall. Karina Legradi, a rising high school senior, told AFSANews that she, too, was grateful for the unique opportunity to learn about American diplomacy: “It opened my eyes to the Foreign Service.” Kimberly Hayward was unable to attend the ceremony. The essay contest is sponsored by the AFSAFund for AmericanDiplomacy and the Nelson B. Delevan Foundation. For more information, go to www.afsa.org/ essay-contest/essay.html. Kid Vid Awards Ambassador Ruth A. Davis, a former director general of theFS and former direc- tor of the Foreign Service Institute, as well as a Foreign Service Youth Foundation board member, presented the Kid Vid Awards. The contest is sponsoredby FSI’s TransitionCenter and the FSYF, andhon- ors FS youth between the ages of 10 and 18 for their videos depicting life at post for young people. Oakwood Worldwide Corporate Housing generously donated prize money. Amb. Davis remarked how impressed shewas with thewinners’ tech- nological savvy, creativity andyouthful per- spectives. She noted that because partici- pants include aspects of their posts’ school- ing, recreational activities and communi- ty life, ForeignService families use the Kid Vids to learn about their future posting or choose between posts. All Kid Vids become part of the permanent collection in the Overseas Briefing Center library. The first-place award recipients were Christian and Patrick Lisko for their video of Valetta, Malta. Davis praised the brothers’ lively production for its “engag- ing narrative, smooth transitions ... and inviting footage of this charmingMediter- raneanpost.” Secondplacewent toAnna- mariaWard for her video of Quito, Ecua- dor. Third place was a tie between Sean PatrickKelly for his presentationofVilnius, Lithuania, and Anthony Oman and Thomas Litchfield for Helsinki, Finland. Foreign Service Youth Foundation Community Service Awards Representative Chris Van Hollen, D- Md., an FSYF Advisory Council member and a former Foreign Service youth him- self, was scheduled to present the FSYF/Harry M. Jannette Awards for CommunityService. The congressmanwas delayed by voting, so his staff member, Sarah Shenning, shared his remarks with former FSYFPresident PamelaWard, who stepped in and presented the awards. These prestigious awards recognize ForeignService teenagerswhodemonstrate outstanding leadership in international community service or in service to their peers while facing the challenges of grow- ingup inan internationallymobile lifestyle. Thewinners demonstrate the power of the individual to improve the lives of those less fortunate. For the first time, Clements International Insurance donated $3,000 U.S. government savings bonds to the first- placewinners. Several representatives from Clements attended the ceremony. John Alsace of Barcelona and Jessica HimelfarbofHarare received this year’s first place awards. Alsace spearheaded a pro- ject to provide food to 80 impoverished families at a local children’s center. He cre- ated a connection between his school and the center to ensure his effortswould con- tinue afterhedepartedpost. Himelfarbwas honored for her project to paint and remodel a one-roomschool building used to educate over 60 children, ages 2 to 15. She also raisedmoney for school uniforms, enabling over 50orphans to attend school, and served as the point person to receive anddistributeclothesdonated fromtheU.S. The Highly Commendable Award went to Nelson Patterson of Harare. Though already accepted to college, Patterson instead spent a “gap year”work- ing in anHIV/AIDs hospice inZimbabwe that also has programs for HIV/AIDs orphans. At Mashambanzou, Patterson workedprimarily on the orphanoutreach team, visiting the poorest communities in Zimbabwe and serving as a big brother to hundreds of orphans. He also spentmany hours on the “Education forLife”program, offering seminars to help stop the spread of AIDS. On his days off, Nelson volun- teered in the learning-support center of Harare International School as a tutor for childrenwith learning disabilities. His sin- cerity — “I just wanted to help people, I didn’t expect to be here” — captured the American spirit of volunteerism of all the winners. A F S A N E W S Essay Contest • Continued from page 65 “It opened my eyes to the Foreign Service.” — Eva Lam, first-place National High School Essay Contest winner