Learning Leadership by Ashley

Learning Leadership by Ashley - March 2015 Scholarship Essay

When you are born you automatically don't know how to read or write, same things go with leadership. College isn't the place where you have to already have leadership skills because you get to learn that by being on your own. College is the time in a young persons life where they get to discover who they are and what they want to do with their life. Since most college students are on their own for the first time in their life it takes a lot of trial and error to learn to be independent. The same thing goes with leadership it takes a lot of trial and error to learn from mistakes and make changes.

I believe the best way to learn leadership skills is to put yourself in some sort of leadership position such as a leader of a club or the boss of a school project. Even though you may fail a few times or not know what exactly you should be doing all the experience will teach you how to be a great leader. Going through this period of trial and error shows you how to pick yourself up after a failure and learn from it which is truly the good mark of a leader. For example many of the political leaders around the world such as our President has made mistakes but they learn from them and try and change their policies. Therefore leadership isn't something you should worry about having when you enter into college because you can learn that as you go through your college experience.

As for me growing up I was a shy kid who clung onto my parents legs scared of interacting with anyone who I didn't know. In school I would always take the backseat in any sport or project never wanting to be the leader. In middle school I volunteered in a hospital that was close by my home working in the pharmacy doing paperwork and filling prescriptions. I also two years ago started volunteering in my church's Sunday school as one of the teachers. This experience has truly given me the skills of what a leader should be and I am really grateful to have the opportunity to work with children. That was the most important lesson that I have learned coming into college.