Leadership skills equal college success! by Jovon

Leadership skills equal college success! by Jovon - March 2015 Scholarship Essay

Before I started writing I tried to research the definition of leadership to help shape the rest of my essay. There are many definitions on the internet as what leadership really is, but the one I chose to use was found on Forbes.com. Leadership according to Forbes is a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a goal. When I look at my mother who I know is a leader at work, I realize that she is also a leader at home. Almost daily she makes attempts to stay involved with me and my school work to ensure that I am doing well. She encourages me, she gives me examples of people who have chosen not to be successful, and she inspires me to do better, especially if I want to achieve my future goals. So I believe that leaders are people who know how to inspire people along the way to achieve goals.

I feel that currently I possess leadership skills at school and definitely on the football field. When I think back to those important games that we needed a win to move forward, I although not the captain of the team, utilized my ability to motivate the team and push us towards our goals. When we were down a few touchdowns I never gave up and I encouraged the team to never give up. This to me shows leadership skills. If I sulked and got angry with the rest of the team (although anger can also motivate you) we wouldn’t be able to push ourselves for the win.

My mother has asked me several times in my life if I am a leader or a follower. I can admit that sometimes I am a follower, because let’s face it I’m in high school and it’s easy to get pressured into many things. Ultimately though I believe I am a leader and I believe that leadership skills are necessary when I go to college.

College will come with many different and new challenges unlike the ones I have faced at home and in high school. I have to be able to decipher and make good choices if my ultimate goal (and it is) is to finish school and secure my education and future. Being a leader to me, means being responsible and working towards my ultimate goal. When I am faced with the choice to party or study I already know what the right choice should be. In college bad choices will lead to bad consequences. I know I will be faced with many different temptations but I have to be a leader rather than a follower otherwise I will not be successful in college or in my future career goals.

Thank you for your consideration