School Year Abroad (SYA) proudly recognizes Carol Weston FR’74 ES’05P ES’08P with The Stephen M. Foster ES’65 Exemplary Service Award, honoring her extraordinary dedication, decades-long volunteer leadership and unwavering commitment to the SYA mission and keeping her classmates closely connected. She attended SYA France as a senior from Byram Hills High School (Armonk, New York) before majoring in French and Spanish comparative literature at Yale University and earning her M.A. in Spanish in Madrid from Middlebury College.

For more than 50 years, Carol has been, as one friend put it, “the glitter and the glue” of the Class of SYA France 1974. As Class Correspondent, she has organized reunions, celebrated milestones and rallied support for SYA’s programs. Her tireless outreach has inspired her cohort to remain one of the most engaged and generous in SYA history, setting the gold standard for alumni connection. SYA staff members have said, “If we could clone Carol, we would.”

A celebrated author and advice columnist, Carol has written sixteen books and has been “Dear Carol” for Girls’ Life magazine since its debut in 1994 offering generations of readers her guidance, encouragement and insight. Her first book, Girltalk: All the Stuff Your Sister Never Told You, came out in 12 languages, and her most recent novel, Speed of Life, earned starred reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, and Booklist. The New York Times has published over 65 of Carol’s Letters to the Editor, and its Book Review has praised her work for its humor, heart and love of language. She has been a guest on Today, Oprah, CNN and The View and teaches writing at the New York Society Library, and this year, in Bordeaux.

Both of Carol’s daughters, Lizzi Ackerman LaCasse and Emme Ackerman, are alumnae of SYA Spain and Carol continues to champion international education and the transformative impact of SYA to parents, students and audiences. Fluent in French and Spanish, she’s now working on Italian.

Whether hosting sumptuous meals at reunions, cheering on fundraising efforts or reminding her peers — with her signature warmth and wit — of their fun, formative and life-changing year in Rennes, Carol has modeled what it means to be a devoted alum. Her energy, generosity and steadfast belief in SYA embody the very essence of exemplary service.

SYA congratulates Carol Weston FR’74 ES’05P ES’08P on this well-deserved recognition.