The Foreign Service Journal, September 2017

90 SEPTEMBER 2017 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL AFSA NEWS Kennan Award Salutes StrongWriting Each June, the AFSA-spon- sored George F. Kennan Strategic Writing Award is bestowed on a distinguished Foreign Service graduate during the National War College’s award and distin- guished graduate recognition ceremony. This year’s Kennan Award winner is David Schroeder, an AFSAmember who was honored for his individual strategic research project, “Ethiopia: The Long and Short of It.” The award is given to a Foreign Service officer for the cumulative effort of his or her research project and the individual’s overall writing throughout the academic year. In addition to the Ken- nan award, Mr. Schroeder received an award for the best short essay in his course. Mr. Schroeder is an FSO currently serving as deputy director of economic policy in the Bureau for Western Hemisphere Affairs. He previ- ously served three-year tours as the chief economic officer in Guangzhou and Tirana. He also served in Mexico City and Kyiv, and as Serbia desk officer inWashington, D.C. Prior to joining the State Department, Mr. Schroeder practiced law as a trial attor- ney for 11 years in Alexandria, Virginia. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia and obtained his law degree from the College of William and Mary. He is married to a fellow career diplomat, Roxanne Cabral. The couple has three sons. Mr. Schroeder said that it was an honor and “extremely gratifying” to receive this prestigious award, adding that “George Kennan was a hero of mine.” Asked about his experi- ence at the National War Col- lege, Mr. Schroeder empha- sized the value of being able to take a year to think more deeply about the strategies employed by the Foreign Service. He urged his col- leagues at the Department of State to seek similar assign- ments, to think in slower and deeper ways that can refresh and reframe how the Foreign Service views its work. AFSA congratulates each of the eight members of the Foreign Service who were honored with National War College writing awards this year, including AFSAmem- bers Mark Schapiro and Natalie A. Baker. n Kennan Award winner David Schroeder (center) receives his certificates from USAF Brigadier General Darren E. Hartford (right) and Ambassador Paul Wohlers (left), commandant and vice commandant of the National War College, respectively. COURTESYOFTHENATIONALWARCOLLEGE Honoring Foreign Service Youth, Continued from page 87 Gayle Nelson of CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield and Ron Riddell of Promax Man- agement, who sponsored an award for the first time. Of the 24 Merit Award recipients, 11 were located overseas at the time they applied. This year, for the first time ever, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service had an AFSA Merit winner. Congrat- ulations to Katrina Sliter, daughter of Dr. Karen Sliter and her husband David, who won an Art Merit Com- mended Award. This year, a total of 106 high school seniors submit- ted applications for AFSA’s academic, art and commu- nity service merit scholar- Young attendees admire some of the winning artwork at a reception following the award ceremony. AFSA/JOAQUINSOSA ships. AFSA would like to thank the members of the AFSA Scholarship Commit- tee and 14 other AFSA mem- ber volunteers who judged this year’s submissions. For more information on the AFSA Scholarship Pro- gram and to view the Merit Awards winners, please visit www.afsa.org/scholar. A recording of the awards ceremony is available on the AFSA website, www.afsa. org/video. n