Under Secretary for Management Grant S. Green, Jr. presents Foreign Service Youth Awards

The Foreign Service Youth Awards recognize Foreign Service teenagers around the world who demonstrate outstanding leadership and make significant contributions to their embassy community, schools, local communities, and service to their peers. Award recipients for 2002 exemplify the talent, commitment, dedication, vision, and volunteer spirit that characterize internationally mobile American youth growing up in overseas communities. Winners receive a $1000 savings bond.

Of the 10,000 children living abroad whose parents serve at a US Embassy or Consulate, approximately 30% are middle and high school students. Ten students were nominated for these awards and the three recipients are:

First Place Award Winners:

One of the first place awards was shared by sisters Anne and Eva Kolker, ages 15 and 13, daughters of Ambassador Jimmy Kolker and Britt-Marie Forslund. Ambassador Kolker is now serving at the US Mission in Ouagadougou, Burkino Faso. The other first place award went to Eric Wanner, 17, son of Colin Wanner and Dale Wanner, now serving at the American Regional Information Management Center in Frankfurt, Germany.

Anna and Eva are recognized for their work during the summer months in helping orphans in Ouagadougou, organizing activities for Embassy and international children living in Ouagadougou. They are also recognized for their work in establishing a program to welcome new students to the Copenhagen International School, where they attend during the school year. Over the years, Anna and Eva raised money, and collected clothes and toys in Denmark to bring with them to help orphans in Burkina Faso. They organized classmates at Copenhagen International School to hold bake sales, a car wash and other fund-raising events in order to raise this money. Over 100 CIS students participated in the various events. The girls’ mission to allay the needs of the vulnerable children in Burkina Faso became a school-wide engagement. For two summers in Ouagadougou the girls organized and ran a summer camp, which was invaluable to both the children who attended it and their parents. According to one parent who utilized the camp, the Kolker girls "gave the children who attended the camp the stimulation they never would have experienced if left at home all day all summer with a nanny." Finally, they established a "buddy system" for newcomers to CIS, addressing a need with which Foreign Service children are all too familiar.

Eric Wanner has won the Youth Award for his commitment to the teen population at his post and the help he gave to the Embassy community there. Eric saw an under-stimulated, incohesive community of teens and worked with the Embassy Community Liaison Office (CLO) in Frankfurt, one of the largest Foreign Service posts in the world, to develop a first-of-its-kind "Teen CLO Program."

With his parents and younger brother Karl and sister Alice, Eric has lived in Russia, Austria, Czech Republic and Germany. Now in his senior year at Frankfurt International School, he studies German for native speakers and advanced placement courses in physics, math and computer science. He is a Sunday school teacher and an active member of the Lutheran Youth Group, which focuses on world hunger awareness. Eric is a Civil Air Patrol Cadet Commander and has just passed his milestone "Billy Mitchell Award" which recognizes a high level of learning in the areas of Government, Search & Rescue, Military History, Leadership, Aerospace Science, and physical training. His sport activities are alpine skiing and hang-gliding. Eric intends to pursue a career in aerospace science.

Honorable Mention:

Honorable mention recipients are Tristan Allen, son of John and Susan Allen, presently serving in Pretoria South Africa, Chelsea Hudson, daughter of Charles and Kathy Hudson, serving in Havana, Cuba, and Joseph Jackson, son of William and Ann Jackson, serving in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Tristan was chosen for his exceptional contribution in assisting orphans, under-privileged youth and younger students at his school. Chelsea has been cited for her volunteer efforts, which made a tremendously positive impact with her peers at school, the younger children to whom she devoted many hours toward making them feel at home, and finally with the adults in her community. Joseph was chosen for his efforts in establishing a much-needed school in a large yet under-served community outside of Addis Ababa.

Certificate of Appreciation:

Certificates were presented to Michael Yamamoto, son of Ambassador Donald and Margaret Yamamoto, presently serving in Djibouti, Djibouti. Michael has been cited for the outstanding work he did for his Eagle Scout project to raise international awareness in his community. While living in the United States, apart from his parents, Michael designed a project to help the people in his community in Virginia understand the world around them and also to understand what the United States, especially the Department of State, does overseas.

The Foreign Service Youth Awards are sponsored by the Foreign Service Youth Foundation, the Department of State Family Liaison Office, and the Associates of the American Foreign Service Worldwide. Harry M. Jannette International and Wood Wilson Company, Inc., of Dallas, Texas.

The Foreign Service Youth Foundation, a non-profit organization, was founded in 1989, to inform, advocate and develop outreach activities for the internationally mobile youth of all US foreign affairs agencies.

For further information about FSYF and its programs, please contact:
Kay Eakin, President
P.O. Box 39185
Washington, DC 20016
Email: fsyf@fsyf.org
Web site: http://www.fsyf.org
Telephone: (301) 404-6655