The Foreign Service Journal, October 2008

68 F OR E I GN S E R V I C E J OU R N A L / OC T OB E R 2 0 0 8 D eputy Secretary of State John Negroponte presented the first- place award for AFSA’s 2008 National High School Essay Contest to Alicia Constant on Aug. 14. The award comes with a check for $2,500. Alicia, a rising 11th-grader at the Koinonia Academy (a home school) in Albuquerque, N.M., submitted her win- ning essay on the subject “StandingUp for HumanRights: Challenges Facing theU.S. Foreign Service in China.” Jeanine Con- stant, Alicia’smother andmentor, andher fatherMitchwere also receivedbyDeputy Secretary Negroponte. Thirty finalists received honorable mention certificates for their excellent essays. An AFSA advisory panel of judges selected the winners. This year’s winning essay was deemed one of the most out- standing submissions in the history of the contest. The goal of AFSA’sHigh School Essay Contest, now in its ninth year, is to stim- ulate interest in a Foreign Service career among top-quality high school students nationwide. AFSA promotes the contest widely throughdirectmailings to social sci- ence teachers, as well as through listings on variousWeb sites. In that way, teach- ers become AFSA’s key promoters of the contest in schools across the country. The 2008 contest generated more than 250 submissions from high school students nationwide. Students were asked to analyze and explainhowForeign Service members promote U.S. national interests by participating in the resolution of today’s major international problems. The contest is open to all students in grades nine through 12 attending a pub- lic, private, parochial or home school, or participating in a high school correspon- dence program anywhere in the U.S., as well as U.S. citizen students attending schools overseas. Students whose parents are members of the U.S. Foreign Service or have served on the advisory commit- tee are not eligible. AFSA consultant Perri Green deserves much credit for ably administering the contest since its inception in 1999. For more information about the essay contest, and to read this year’swinning essay, please go to www.afsa.org/essaycontest. o A F S A N E W S Deputy Secretary John Negroponte presents the first-place essay award to Alicia Constant. ANNTHOMAS HIGH SCHOOL ESSAY CONTEST WINNER MEETS NEGROPONTE Introducing Students to the Foreign Service BY TOM SWITZER, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS Get Set to Vote! A s the November presidential elec- tion approaches, overseas Foreign Service members will need to make arrangements for voting. The Associates of the American Foreign ServiceWorldwide has put together a use- ful voting resources guide that is posted on their Web site at http://aafsw.org/ overseas/voting.htm . Here are a few key sites AAFSW highlights: www.fvap.gov The Federal Voting Assistance Pro- gram offers instructions on registering and voting while living overseas under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (for which Foreign Service employees and their families qual- ify). The site offers a downloadable/print- able version of the Federal Post Card Application for registering to vote in your state of residence. The FPCA is also avail- able at all U.S. embassies and consulates. Both versions, however, must be snail- mailed to your local election office (addresses available on the FVAP Web site). So allow plenty of time to get reg- istered before any election! www.overseasvotefoundation.org This useful site features a secure voter registrationwizard provided by the non- partisan Overseas Vote Foundation. Also included: Voter Help Desk and Election Official Directory. www.justvote.org Run by a private, nonprofit, nonpar- tisanorganization, theNational Hip-Hop Political Convention, this site offers quick links to absentee ballot information by state. www.americanoverseasnetwork.net This organization seeks to encourage Americans overseas to vote, and research- es the political views of expatriate Americans. Several voter FAQs are pro- vided, including links to individual state voter information sites and links to var- ious political webzines and blogs. o