The Foreign Service Journal, September 2022

AFSA NEWS 70 SEPTEMBER 2022 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL AFSA Selects High School Essay Contest Winner Katherine Lam, a freshman from University High School in Tucson, Arizona, is the winner of this year’s AFSA national high school essay contest. Lam won with her essay, “Competition and Coaction in Ethiopia: U.S. and Chinese Partnerships for International Stabilization,” in which she focuses on how the Foreign Service has partnered with other U.S. government agen- cies, nongovernmental orga- nizations and, most notably, China to promote peace and development in Ethiopia. As the winner of AFSA’s essay contest, Lam will be awarded $2,500. She will receive a full-tuition schol- arship for an educational voyage with Semester at Sea during college and also trav- eled to Washington, D.C., to meet with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on July 20. She was accompanied by Mariam Parray and Jonas Lorincz, the 2021 and 2020 AFSA essay contest win- ners, respectively, who had been unable to visit the State Department during the pandemic. Joining the award recipients were AFSA State Vice President Tom Yazdgerdi, AFSA’s Awards and Scholar- ships Manager Theo Horn and President of Semester at Sea Scott Marshall. This year’s runner-up is Olivia Paulsen, a home- schooled junior in Concord, Massachusetts. She wrote an essay titled “Democracy at a Crossroads: Peacebuilding and Collaboration in Burma.” As the runner-up, Paulsen was awarded $1,250 and a full-tuition scholarship to attend the International Diplomacy program of the National Student Leadership Conference this summer. Every year, AFSA welcomes essay submissions from stu- dents in grades nine through 12 that address diplomacy, peacebuilding and the U.S. Foreign Service. This was the contest’s 24th year. Students were prompted to identify and write about a situation in which Ameri- can diplomats and peace- builders are working with other world powers, as well as local and/or regional actors, in a conflict- affected coun- try to champion democracy, promote human rights and resolve violent conflict. This year, AFSA received 300 essay submissions from 40 states and numerous locations abroad. The win- ners were selected in three randomized and blinded rounds of judging. In addition to the two winners, our judges named eight honorable mentions: Josh Diaz of Little Rock, Arkansas; Grace Hartman of Bethlehem, Pennsylva- nia; Elena Higuchi of Irvine, California; Ovea Kaushik of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Evan Lindemann of Palm Desert, California; Percival Liu of Tokyo, Japan; Alex- ander Richter of San Jose, California; and Gavin Sun of Woodbury, Minnesota. AFSA is thrilled to have received so many essay sub- missions this year and appre- ciates the continued support of our valued educational partners: the United States Institute of Peace, the National Student Leadership Confer- ence and Semester at Sea. To learn more about AFSA’s essay contest and other educational outreach initiatives, visit afsa.org/ students. n Secretary of State Antony Blinken congratulates AFSA’s high school essay contest winners Katherine Lam (left, 2022), Jonas Lorincz (2020) and Mariam Parray (2021) at the State Department on July 20. AFSA national high school essay contest winner Katherine Lam. AFSA national high school essay contest runner-up Olivia Paulsen. RONNYPRZYSUCHA COURTESYOFKATHERINELAM COURTESYOFOLIVIAPAULSEN