Foreign Service Officer: When I was in high school (class of 1963), we had career days

every year, where people came to the school to talk about careers in many fields. I went to many of those talks, partly because I was genuinely trying to figure out what I wanted to do, and partly because it got me out of a boring classroom.

One of the ones I went to featured a foreign service officer with the State Department. Only two students showed up. The other one, besides me, was the girl who was co-valedictorian with me of our class. I took four years of French in HS and actually enjoyed history and civics classes.

So, the State Department representative, a woman in her mid 20s, told us what a Foreign Service Officer did and what the career opportunities were in that field. She described the foreign service examination you had to take and talked about what kind of college major and courses would help you be successful in landing an entry level foreign service officer job at State.

Since there were only two of us there, we got to ask lots of questions. We heard about where she had been posted, stories about interesting things that had happened, and a lot more that made it sound pretty tempting, really. It was something I carefully considered before choosing to go in another direction.

What was most impressive about her presentation was her professionalism and her clear enjoyment of her job. I went into another area, and then changed that to still another area of study, and mostly forgot about the State Department. My friend and classmate, however, did end up becoming a foreign service officer and had a fascinating career that included being an attache in three or four countries. She's retired now, and the last time I saw her was at our 50th reunion, where she shared some of her experiences with me. She sounded a lot like that young woman who talked with us when I was in high school. Clearly, it had been a great, enjoyable job for her.

I don't regret not doing that. It sounded interesting, but I went in another direction. But, it was clear to me after talking to my former classmate that it was a wonderful job to have as a way of serving the country in a valuable position.

Today, I'm wondering how many people who have careers with the State Department are feeling otherwise about their jobs, with Donald Trump as President.