9/21/2005 - AFS International Announces Winners of its Student Essay Competition
Torino, Italy – September 21, 2005 – AFS Intercultural Programs announced the winners of its first Student Essay Competition in an award ceremony held at the Royal Palace in Turin, Italy on September 21, 2005. Silvia Gambino of Italy won the first prize, a USD 3,000 scholarship towards her further education for her essay written on the competition’s theme of “Peace Through Understanding.” The second prize, a USD 1,000 scholarship for each contestant, was awarded to Hart Ford-Hodges from the United States and to Saraa Pihlman from Finland.
Silvia Gambino, the first prize winner, who went to Tunisia for her exchange program said “I was undeniably happy to receive the letter from New York stating that I was the first prize winner, and I was also very astonished, since I didn’t have a lot of faith in my essay; rather I had defined it as a “rhetoric masterpiece.” I wrote it during the middle of the year, when I still had confused ideas in my head.” Hart Ford-Hodges, one of the second prize winners and an exchange student to Germany, will be a senior in high school the upcoming school year. Her interests include forensics and she is interested in pursuing a degree in Ethnic or Developmental Studies. Saara Pihlman, who tied for second prize and who spent her exchange year in Hungary, lives in the town of Joensuu, about 400 km from Helsinki. She is a very active student and loves horseback riding.
The award ceremony coincided with the opening ceremony of the 2005 AFS World Congress and was attended by the leadership of AFS who traveled to Italy from more than 50 countries around the world. The occasion also marked AFS’s observation of the International Day of Peace. The International Day of Peace was established by a United Nations resolution in 1981 “to devote a specific time to concentrate the efforts of the United Nations and its Member States, as well as of the whole of mankind, to promoting the ideals of peace and to giving positive evidence of their commitment to peace in all viable ways…” as stated in the original United Nations Resolution.
Francisco “Tachi” Cazal, President of AFS International said that “With this first international essay competition, AFS International would like to celebrate the remarkable educational achievements of all the 11,000 AFS participants that every year embark on a challenging experiential learning experience. These essays show that AFS programs provide young people with the knowledge and skills that will enable them to act as responsible global citizens. These experiences of AFS students, taken as a whole, have the power to lead members of a new generation to embrace “a commitment to peace in all viable ways.”
The AFS Student Essay Competition was open to all AFS participants who were part of an AFS year-long, school based program between June 2003 and March 2005. The essay contestants were allowed to use their native language to write the essays. AFS Partners selected one essay per country, from among the hundreds of essays submitted worldwide, to be considered for the awards by an international jury. The three distinguished members of the international jury were Dr. Irid Agoes, Director of the Indonesian International Education Foundation and a former AFS International Trustee, J. Brian Atwood, Dean of the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota and AFS International Trustee, and Don Mohanlal, Chief Operating Officer of the International Youth Foundation and former Senior Vice President of AFS Intercultural Programs.
About AFS
AFS Intercultural Programs, Inc. (www.afs.org) is one of the world’s largest not-for-profit community-based volunteer organizations dedicated to building a more just and peaceful world through intercultural exchange. AFS has a network of 52 Partner organizations and runs programs in more than 50 countries involving more than 11,000 students, young adults and teachers each year. Since 1947, over 325,000 individuals and an equal number of host families have had the AFS experience. In addition, AFS has Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations.
Press Contacts:
For additional information please contact: Carlos Porro, Manager for Development and Communications, AFS Intercultural Programs, Inc. email: carlos.porro@afs.org, telephone: (212) 807-8686 ext.121