Achieving Leadership by Brielyn

Achieving Leadership by Brielyn - August 2023 Scholarship Essay

I think my biggest achievement in my education was my choice to run for Student Body Vice President. Just the act of campaigning, competing against my peers, and proving my self to my classmates based on my own desires is a huge achievement. Additionally, after aggressively selling myself and my slate to my classmates, I was appointed as the Student Body Vice President where I got to represent my peers my entire senior year to cap off the previous three years of student government membership I had worked through.
The reason this is such a big achievement to me is because I am extremely involved, I dealt with female barriers, and it was exactly what I wanted to experience in setting myself up for a lifelong career.
Throughout all of high school I kept a very full plate. I would hop from one sports practice to the next, then to work, and then home where I would find mounds of honors and AP class homework waiting for me. It was a grind, but that is something I have learned to love. When I was running for this position I had to question if I could handle another thing on my plate. However, in hind sight, I'm glad I decided 'yes', because it taught me valuable lessons on prioritization and time management, especially in a team-based scenario.
Next, in high school, unfortunately similar to many career fields out in the world, it feels wrong to put females in charge. I ran in the election with an all-girl slate, and not by choice. I didn't think anyone would vote for an all-girl team, weather that was for sexist reasons or simply representation. I faced many comments related to this idea, and had two all-boy teams run against us, boasting about how they were 'backed' by the entire football team because 'who would want only girls to be in charge'. This was deterring, but ultimately showed me what I would be up against as I head into a business career that happens to be male-dominated. Sometimes you just have to work hard for what you want to achieve.
Lastly I believe my election to be such a grand achievement because of the skills I learned that I am certain will be applicable to my business career. I learned invaluable skills of leadership, working as a team, and the appropriate ways to fairly represent a large group of people. I was given the privelage to make choices on behalf of the student body, and ran every pep assembly and large event we held. I had to learn accountability and the best ways to motivate mass crowds. All of these skills will be so useful to me in my corporate career, and have equipped me to be an outspoken and determined leader.