Leading my Children to Higher Education by Jacob

Leading my Children to Higher Education by Jacob - March 2015 Scholarship Essay

Does it take leadership skills to succeed in college? Honestly that depends on what you intended to take out of the experience and what it will cost you. It is entirely possible to coast through college and life without the risks or rewards leaders often create. Not only is it possible but it is often the norm.

It has been said that leadership is the willingness to stand up in front, to be either the target or the hero, to take responsibility for the success or failure of a given goal. Leaders are also typified for having vision, taking action (often against the norm), and exerting self-discipline to follow through. Its not enough to coast or follow the easy path it requires real risk to dream, to stand out, and to act.

I am thirty-three years old. Before my thirty-fourth birthday I will be the proud father of ten children all under the age of fourteen. What will they remember form growing up in my home? How will my example impact them in the years to come? What vision of a brighter future will I pass onto them? Little eyes are always watching, weighting, and remembering how I, as their first leader, walked through life. Do I coast or do I have direction?

Opportunities for higher education have come later to me in life than is the standard American pattern. We are admonished that first we obtain a degree, then select a career, hopefully make great money, and THEN we have a family. As it was during the latter end of my two year church service mission in Costa Rica I met the woman who would become my wife. With her came the two little children whom I would quickly grow to love as my own. Within six months of returning to the United States I was married and an instant father at the age of twenty-two.

Does it take leadership skill to succeed at college? Only if you cannot afford to coast. I have a tremendous advantage over the standard single or young married couple college students. I get to stand up in front of my children to lead by example and sacrifice to get my degree. For most children their parents college days will be an abstract story. More mine they will get to witness dad working his full time job and struggling and eventually succeeding at higher education.

What is a leader/parent but a mentor who has been in the trenches of life, fought in the battles we face, and won the prize we seek? This will be the man my children remember. This will be the man who will have genuine influence. This will be a parent who can say, "Come follow me."