Leadership by Hannah

Leadership by Hannah - May 2024 Scholarship Essay

I started high school like most teenagers, scared for what was to come in the next four years of my life. Although the beginning of my high school career was stressful, I pushed myself to become involved in many organizations and clubs, most importantly BPA. At first, I was an outcast in the institution, but as I started communicating more and more with my associates, I created my place in the club.
During my junior year, specifically, was when I became the most involved in the club. Although I was a part of the Financial Analyst Team the previous year, I became the team captain. While balancing my event of Payroll Accounting and my school work from the AP classes that I was enrolled in, I organized meetings with my team outside of school and I helped encourage our team to move forward to prepare for our event, such as creating a script for our event. I also worked one-on-one with the sponsor of the Finance branch of BPA, who was also my accounting teacher at the time.
Throughout the state competition, I communicated with my group and arranged meet-ups in the hotel we were staying at for the competition. Through all the late-night rehearsals during weekends and the constant tweaking of our presentation that we had to lead up to the competition, we passed through to state, where we made it to finals, ultimately being a national alternate.
Furthermore, I had the opportunity to become an officer in both orchestra and NHS. As I became more involved in orchestra, such as making the All-Region Full Orchestra for my sophomore and junior years, I learned to collaborate with the other members, which ultimately helped me become more leader-like. Also, in the National Honors Society, I learned how to manage my time properly, trying to manage my school work while being an officer and having my own free time.
Although I learned how to become a leader through my numerous positions, I was also heavily influenced by watching real leaders manage their organizations, more specifically being my swim coach, Shannon Clark. Through being a part of her swim club for my entire childhood, I learned how much confidence and perseverance has an effect on leadership. The truth of her impact comes from her ability to manage all aspects of her life and still be a pillar of strength for all those around her. Shannon not only started Aggie Swim Club with her husband, but she was raising her children while going through the struggles of starting a business. Her perseverance motivates me to stay determined through the hard times in my life and pursue what is most meaningful for me, not for the people around me, which is a prominent characteristic of being a leader.
Through this experience of leading the Financial Analyst team, being an officer for NHS and orchestra and observing one of my mentors, I learned that being a leader does not involve giving your teammates orders and expecting them to follow blindly, but leadership involves working with those who are around you, ultimately knowing their strengths and learning how to combine them to create the absolute advantage for the competition.