Letter From the President April 2022

AAFSW also wants you to be an active participant in your community.

We have numerous opportunities to volunteer your time supporting your Foreign Affairs Community including board positions for the new term (2022-2024). Specifically, AAFSW is seeking candidates for President, 1st Vice President, 2nd Vice President and Secretary. For more details, please see this month’s article about joining the board, here.

Many may not realize, but the board members and committee chairs of AAFSW are all volunteers. On an annual basis, we clock over 3600 personal hours. Those hours are consumed by planning programs, the annual Art and BookFair, SOSA awards, advocating for family members, and much, much more. We are the volunteer organization for the foreign affairs community.  

As my term as AAFSW President comes to a close, I took a few moments to reflect on my experiences as a board member. Personally speaking, I have found being an AAFSW board member very rewarding. I first joined the board as the SOSA chair in 2012 when my children were young. I also served as 1st Vice President and now President. 

These positions provided me with a flexible schedule, offered me the chance to stay connected to the foreign affairs community while in Washington, DC, and allowed me the opportunity to build my resume. In the last decade, I have worked with an amazing group of individuals sharing a common cause, attended interesting programs, worked with high level officials at the State Department and networked with the foreign affairs community.

Feel free to reach out to me directly if you want to discuss specifics of being a board member.  

Lara Center, AAFSW President