The Foreign Service Journal, October 2013

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | OCTOBER 2013 49 AFSA NEWS mind, respect for other cul- tures and a desire to bridge misunderstandings,” Adams- Smith told them. In addition to her work overseas, Adams-Smith received the Department of State’s Cox Sabbatical Fellowship. And in 2011, she spent a year working with Semester at Sea to further strengthen its international programs. She most recently worked as the deputy execu- tive secretary of the National Security Staff at the White House. focus her studies on Russia and Eastern Europe. SAS alumna Kelly Adams- Smith challenged students to think about the diplomats they’d like to be while aboard this year’s 50th-anniversary voyage and beyond. Twenty- five years after completing that pivotal semester abroad, she gave the students some sage advice. She urged them to think about the type of diplomats they want to be, whether on the current voy- age or in life. “All successful diplomats bring to their work an open Her return to the MV Explorer to speak to students as the voyage began was spe- cial for many who already are entertaining the idea of work- ing in the Foreign Service. “She is a real inspiration. I got so much from hearing her speak about her career,” one student said. Adams-Smith reminded students that their SAS expe- rience is but one journey for them: “What I see in front of me is a group of student dip- lomats about to set on two journeys. The first is a voyage on a ship. The second is your life after Semester at Sea. “My first journey let me sail around the world. The second took me from a ship to the White House and back. Now you get to decide where your two journeys are going to take you. So good luck, stay safe and enjoy it.” See more at www.semes- teratsea.org. n Lucille Renwick is an instructor of public relations and integrated marketing communications at the El Tecnologico de Monterrey University in Mexico City. She was communications coordinator for the Summer 2009 and Fall 2010 voyages and took part in several Forums on Global Engagement. What is a diplomat? There are probably several defini- tions, but the one that stu- dents on the Fall 2013 voyage received during a lecture from a Semester at Sea Fall 1988 alumna, Kelly Adams- Smith, while docked at the port for London, was this: “A diplomat is a representative.” As participants in Semes- ter at Sea, each student is already a “diplomat,” Adams- Smith explained. “Each time you get off this ship you are representatives too: of your school, of this program, of America or the country you come from, and of your coun- try’s values.” She should know. Adams- Smith is a diplomat serving as economic counselor in the U.S. embassy in London. She has been a Foreign Service officer for 16 years in such countries as Russia, Estonia and Bulgaria. However, long before that, in 1988 she was a student sailing on Semester at Sea, trying to figure out her future, just as many of the students on this current voyage are doing. Adams-Smith credits her time on Semester at Sea with putting her on the path toward her work in the Foreign Service. It was on her voyage, while staying with a family in what was then part of the Soviet Union, that it clicked for her: she wanted to Diplomacy Begins at Sea for One Foreign Service Officer BY LUCILLE RENWICK On Aug. 24, students aboard Semester at Sea’s shipboard campus, the MV Explorer , listen intently as Foreign Service officer Kelly Adams-Smith delivers the convocation on the Fall 2013 voyage. Semester at Sea is a sponsor of AFSA’s National High School Essay Contest, providing an all-expenses educational voyage for one semester to the first-place winner. PHOTOSBYBRYANKOOP, INSTITUTEFORSHIPBOARDEDUCATION,SEMESTERATSEA