The Foreign Service Journal, September 2018

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2018 67 AFSA NEWS Some of the 2018 scholarship winners are pictured here at the July 13 ceremony. From left to right: Benjamin Toyryla (accepting award for Alexander Toyryla), Asa Nugent, Christian Beckmeyer, LiamWebster, Clara Matton, Svenya Braich, Yasmin Ranz-Lind, Leah Kleinberg, Hannah Feeken, Sophia Nichols and Emmaline Calhoun. 2018 Scholarship Program Update The AFSA scholarship program is an important pro- gram for our members with college-aged dependents. This year we were pleased to be able to give $129,000 in merit awards—nearly triple the amount we gave last year. AFSA gave out 41 awards this year honoring 36 students (some were multiple award winners—read about the win- ners in the July/August 2018 issue of The Foreign Service Journal) , up from 24 stu- dents last year. Each winner received an award ranging from $1,000 to $3,500, which is an increase from the $500 to $2,500 range last year. How did we do it? We significantly reduced our administrative overhead costs, allowing us both to give out more merit awards and to give them in more significant amounts. As we move into the 2019 scholarship program year, we will continue to improve the application process. We completed an online survey of this year’s 181 applicants and our 29 volunteer judges to get their views on what areas we should focus on for improving the application process, and we received excellent feedback. Thank you to all those who partici- pated. In partnership with the AFSA Scholarship Commit- tee, our new scholarship program coordinator, Theo Horn, was instrumental in facilitating the 2018 scholar- ship program, from judge training to applicant com- munications to award noti- fication. Theo has been on the AFSA staff for more than a year and we are pleased that he has moved into this role. Theo has a bachelor’s degree from Syracuse Uni- versity and a background as an analyst and congressional campaign finance associ- ate. He can be reached at scholar@afsa.org. Want to Know More? Visit www.afsa.org/ scholar for up-to-date infor- mation on the scholarship program. In addition, we are pleased to make our promo- tional postcards and adver- tisements available to you if you wish to share informa- tion about AFSA scholarships with colleagues at post or others in the Foreign Service community. Scholarship coordinator Theo Horn addresses the 2018 winners. JOAQUINSOSA JOAQUINSOSA