The Door to New Opportunities by Kaitlyn

The Door to New Opportunities by Kaitlyn - March 2015 Scholarship Essay

The definition of leadership differs among people today. Some believe that leadership means power and authority, while others, such as myself, believe that there is so much more to it. To people like me, to be a true leader means to possess qualities such as humility, compassion, patience, integrity, perseverance and passion, not just communication skills. A true leader is someone who puts the needs of others above their own, and makes a choice every day to serve others with a positive attitude, but they never lose sight of their vision of the future. They are passionate about what they are doing, and will do whatever they can to move the group forward to a better future. Leadership has nothing to do with a title. They can be at the top of the list, or float in the middle, and it does not matter because they don’t need a title to want to make a difference. They are selfless, and humble making sure that everyone gets credit where credit is due.

All of the skills that I believe make up a leader, are 100% necessary in true college success. Success does not ride on how high a person is on the student senate, or how big their first salary is, but by how they made others feel in the process, and how they grew as a person. Maya Angelou once said, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” This attribute to success is driven by the leadership qualities of humility, compassion, patience, and integrity. College is a time of meeting new people, establishing business connections, and learning how the real world works, and the people that succeed the most after this time is over, are the people who made others feel good, and focused on the good of everyone, rather than the success of one. A student can do all the studying they want, but without the trust and admiration of people, true success will be a struggle; the world works through networking.

Also, the passion and perseverance that leaders possess are crucial to academic success. Times in college can get very tough. When a person is working multiple jobs, going to school full time, and trying to figure out how life works, it gets very easy to give up. People possessing the qualities of a leader know that time is only temporary, and that the end result is worth all of the temporary pain. Leaders never take their eyes off their prize, and push forward everyday to do their very best, even if it’s painful.

Overall, I think that leadership skills are vital to making years of hardship valuable to the future. Being compassionate, humble, reliable, passionate, and persevering opens the doors to new opportunities through people that remember how you made them feel, and through purposeful knowledge achieved. No position of power, or amount of communication skills can give the future the same jump start that the true qualities of a leader can give.