Dear HSFSA chapter members, officers, and advisors,
Since 2021, the High School Foreign Service Association (HSFSA) has worked to bring diplomacy and the U.S. Foreign Service to high schools across the U.S. Having garnered a strong community and impacted thousands of students, the organization is entering a new stage in its journey.
To that end, we are broadening our mission to additional aspects of international relations education and awareness, while still maintaining a strong focus on the Foreign Service. From now on, the organization is known as the Youth International Relations Coalition (YIRC). We are excited to keep working with all our old chapters throughout this transition!
Since 2021, the High School Foreign Service Association (HSFSA) has worked to bring diplomacy and the U.S. Foreign Service to high schools across the U.S. Having garnered a strong community and impacted thousands of students, the organization is entering a new stage in its journey.
To that end, we are broadening our mission to additional aspects of international relations education and awareness, while still maintaining a strong focus on the Foreign Service. From now on, the organization is known as the Youth International Relations Coalition (YIRC). We are excited to keep working with all our old chapters throughout this transition!
What We Do
The HSFSA provides free remote and in-person guest speaker lectures to its chapters. As current and former Foreign Service Officers (FSOs), our speakers offer an abundance of experience and inside knowledge of how diplomacy really works. Sharing their experiences, motivations, and views they provide an excellent picture of what it's like to be diplomat.
To provide an plethora of qualified and passionate speakers, the HSFSA works with its partners, such as the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), and uses its own contacts. Each chapter receives guidance and support to ensure an event's success.
To provide an plethora of qualified and passionate speakers, the HSFSA works with its partners, such as the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), and uses its own contacts. Each chapter receives guidance and support to ensure an event's success.
Learn more at our Guest Speaker Portal!
High School Foreign Service Association chapters are centers for deep analysis of foreign policy and international relations, permitting students to engage in thoughtful discussion of diplomacy.
Through such hands-on and interactive activities, students learn from each other, share ideas, and improve their communication skills.
Through such hands-on and interactive activities, students learn from each other, share ideas, and improve their communication skills.
HSFSA chapters organize various awareness campaigns at their schools. Whether they are honoring important dates in the history of diplomacy or raising awareness about the Foreign Service's impact on our daily lives through the HSFSA's signature Diplomacy Matters events, chapters play a key role in increasing the appreciation for the U.S. Foreign Service's achievements among America's youth.
The HSFSA works with the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) to provide free reading materials to chapters. Once a chapter conducts its introductory speaker event, it can request copies of Inside a U.S. Embassy, a Washington Post bestseller that provides firsthand accounts of diplomacy in action, and The Foreign Service Journal, a monthly professional publication for FSOs by FSOs, which covers foreign affairs from an insider’s perspective.
The HSFSA is partnered with the National Museum of American Diplomacy to bring Diplomacy Simulations to its chapters:
"NMAD’s Diplomacy Simulations immerse middle school, high school, and college students in skill-building role-plays based on real-world scenarios developed by diplomats and historians. During a Diplomacy Simulation, students practice collaborating with people who have diverse values, interests, and perspectives to reach a mutually beneficial outcome."
Similar Model UN, Diplomacy Simulations are focused on the State Department and direct relations between countries. Centered on real-world events, they accurately recreates real-life diplomacy.
The High School Foreign Service Association produces its own educational resources for students.
For example, using the State Department's Office's of Treaty Affairs Treaties and Other International Acts Series, the HSFSA has created an interactive map and database for clearer visualization and analysis of the data.
For example, using the State Department's Office's of Treaty Affairs Treaties and Other International Acts Series, the HSFSA has created an interactive map and database for clearer visualization and analysis of the data.