The Foreign Service Journal, September 2016

82 SEPTEMBER 2016 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL AFSA NEWS Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Carol Perez (second from left), FSYF President John Naland (second from right) and FLO Director Susan Frost (far right) with the 2016 Foreign Service Youth Award winners. 2016 Foreign Service Youth Awards Ceremony On July 8, the Foreign Service Youth Foundation hosted the 2016 Youth Awards Ceremony at the Department of State. Foreign Service children received awards for their art, essay writing, video produc- tion, community service and scholarly achievements. FSYF President John Naland read a letter from Secretary of State John Kerry, in which he discussed his own experiences as the child of a U.S. diplomat and the chal- lenges faced by diplomats’ children today. Secretary Kerry commended the FSYF for helping to foster camara- derie and resilience among Foreign Service youth. This year a Foreign Service Youth Advocacy Award honor- ing an adult who has demon- strated long-term commit- ment to Foreign Service youth was given for the first time. The ceremony, at which Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Director General of the Foreign Ser- vice and Director of Human Resources Carol Perez was the keynote speaker, also recog- nized awardees of the Associ- ates of the American Foreign ServiceWorldwide Merit Scholarship Award program. FSYF Awards Art Contest Ages 5-8 First Place: Akeela Valdes, Havana, Cuba Second Place: Ohlsson Skaret, Bogota, Colombia Third Place: Lydia Bitner, Athens, Greece Ages 9-12 First Place: Jacob Newman, Mbabane, Swaziland Second Place: Francie Silva, Montevideo, Uruguay Third Place: Sophia Bitner, Athens, Greece Ages 13-18 First Place: Helen Reynolds, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Second Place: Cora Deininger, Arlington, Virginia Third Place (tie): Divine Grimes, Fredericksburg, Virginia Camryn Carswell, Kaiserslautern, Germany U.S.DEPARTMENTOFSTATE/MARKSTEWART Essay Contest Middle School First Place: Stephen Harvey, Nogales, Mexico Second Place: Penelope Duran, Cairo, Egypt Third Place: Hanako Ricci, Ankara, Turkey High School First Place: Kai Davis, Buda- pest, Hungary Second Place: LaraWelch, Antananarivo, Madagascar Third Place: Maria Connors, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania KidVid Contest First Place: Abigail Blaser and Vivienne Phemister, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Second Place (tie): Patrick Hamilton, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Molly Bailey and Daisy Bailey, Nairobi, Kenya Third Place (tie): Tristan Phemister and Sebastian Phemister, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Abigail Williams, Bangkok, Thailand Welcome Home Video Challenge Ingrid Bayer, Falls Church, Virginia Cole Blackman, Vienna, Virginia Gregor Deininger, Arlington, Virginia Hannah Feeken, Stafford, Virginia Community Service Awards Brendan Boyd, Niamey, Niger Wiley Skaret, Bogota, Colombia Academic Merit Awards First Place: Riena Harker, Beijing, China Second Place: Alessandra Youth, Managua, Nicaragua Foreign Service Youth Advocacy Award Kay Branaman Eakin, Mesa, Arizona AAFSWMerit Scholarship Awards College Merit Scholarship: MirandaWalls Best Essay Award: Magdalena Travis Judy Felt Memorial Volun- teerism Scholarship: Sofia Tipton To learn more about the FSYF and AAFSWawards, visit their websites at www.fsyf.org and www.aafsw.org. n —Ramona Sandoval, State Department Family Liaison Office