The Foreign Service Journal, September 2021

AFSA NEWS 68 SEPTEMBER 2021 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL AFSA Selects High School Essay Contest Winner Mariam Parray, a sopho- more from Pulaski Academy in Little Rock, Arkansas, is the winner of this year’s AFSA national high school essay contest. Parray won with her essay, “Diplomats and Peacebuilders in Tunisia: Paving the Path to Democ- racy,” in which she empha- sizes the importance of multifaceted approaches to ensure a peaceful transition to democracy and highlights the critical need to incor- porate the voices of mar- ginalized groups into this process. As the winner of AFSA’s essay contest, Ms. Parray was awarded $2,500. She will also be traveling to Washington, D.C., to meet with a member of the State Department’s leadership team and will receive a full-tuition scholarship for an educational voyage with Semester at Sea during college. This year’s runner-up is Harrison McCarty, who is also from Pulaski Academy in Little Rock, Arkansas. He wrote an essay titled “The Planes Are Up: How Operation Uphold Democ- racy Led to the Successful Restoration of Peace and Democracy in Haiti.” As the runner-up, Mr. Harrison, a junior, was awarded $1,250 and a full-tuition scholarship to attend the International Diplomacy program of the National Student Leadership Conference this summer. This is the first time the two winning essays came from students at the same school. Every year, AFSA wel- comes essay submissions from students in grades nine through 12 that address diplomacy, peacebuilding and, most importantly, the U.S. Foreign Service. This was the contest’s 23rd year. Students were prompted to identify and write about a situation in which diplomats worked on a peacebuilding initia- tive with partners from the country or region in ques- tion, with nongovernmental organizations and with other parts of the U.S. gov- ernment, and then analyze why the endeavor was a success. This year, AFSA received 357 essay submissions from 42 states and numerous locations abroad. The win- ners were selected in three randomized and blinded rounds of judging. In addition to these two winners, our judges named eight honorable men- tions: Louisa Eaton from Wellesley, Massachusetts; Samuel Goldston from Brooklyn, New York; Lucy King from Bainbridge Island, Washington; Haan Jun Lee from Jakarta, Indonesia; Khaled Maalouf from Beirut, Lebanon; Madeleine Shaw from Bloomington, Indiana; Allison Srp from Austin, Min- nesota; and Daniel Zhang from Cortland, New York. AFSA is thrilled to have received so many essay submissions this year and appreciates the contin- ued support of our valued educational partners: the United States Institute of Peace, the National Student Leadership Conference and Semester at Sea. To learn more about AFSA’s essay contest and other educational outreach initiatives, visit afsa.org/ students. n COURTESYOFMARIAMPARRAY AFSA national high school essay contest winner Mariam Parray. AFSA national high school essay contest runner-up Harrison McCarty. COURTESYOFHARRISONMCCARTY “Diplomats and Peacebuilders in Tunisia: Paving the Path to Democracy” emphasizes the importance of multifaceted approaches to ensure a peaceful transition to democracy.