Leadership Leads the Way to Success by Chloe

Leadership Leads the Way to Success by Chloe - March 2015 Scholarship Essay

Throughout college, I know that I will be presented with various challenges that will test me as not only a person, but as a leader. Leadership skills are necessary for college success because as a college student, you are expected to act like an adult and make ‘adult’ choices; primarily pertaining to putting your education and school work before any other activities.

As an incoming freshman, I recognize that I’ll be handed an abundance of freedom all at once. Being away from my parents, without anyone to dictate my decisions, is going to be such a liberating moment in my life. However, as Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry his own weight, this is a frightening prospect.” I think that in order to become successful adults in college, you need to exhibit leadership because the freedom that you are given makes you subject to obstacles that you have yet to experience under the guidance of parents. Without leadership, and the ability to reject the hindrances for college, it’s plausible that you could succumb to peer pressure and spiral down without receiving a degree.

In order to reach college success, you have to make difficult decisions in regards to what you want to do versus what you need to do. Being a leader means that you have to dictate between the two, even if your decision isn’t what is popular with everyone else. “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way,” (John C. Maxwell) even if that means it’s more work. College is what you make it, you have to choose between either taking the road less traveled that leads to success, or collapse under the various pressures you will encounter in college. But I know to achieve my goals and dreams, I have to become a better leader because failure is not an option.