Leadership Improves the Educational Experience by Karyna

Leadership Improves the Educational Experience by Karyna - February 2023 Scholarship Essay

Throughout my life, I have infused leadership roles into my educational experiences because I believe this “soft skill” is a very important tool for a successful education. As a very active member of the National Art Honor Society for all of my high school years, I was elected as president of the club for my senior year. I took on this role, excited to approach it with passion and interest instead of just taking home the title. As president, I have done my absolute best to lead the other thirty members and have organized several community outreach art activities. During 2021, I helped to manage a project where we all crafted, fired, and glazed clay pots which we planted with succulents and gave away as a “thank you” gift for teachers during the last few unprecedented years. During 2022, as president, I collaborated with the club members to decide what project we all collectively would like to work on. Everyone voted and decided that we were going to paint a colorful wall mural to represent diversity and inclusivity. Being the President of the club allowed me to not only lead, but take a more active role in gaining knowledge from my peers.

Additionally, I have learned that leadership is much more “behind the scenes" oriented than I had previously thought. This past year, our school newspaper needed writers, so I volunteered to offer assistance and soon found myself stepping into the leadership role of an editor. Although not many people knew about the work I did with the school paper, as it is all digital work, I realized that one of the most important qualities in a leader is the tendency to recognize a need and be the person willing to step up and help out. Subsequently, I have found it to be very rewarding knowing that I am making a difference, even if not many people know it; a good leader never has to announce that he or she is a good leader, but simply works to help others. Even though I had never envisioned myself as a writer, I enjoyed seeing the journalistic process and gained skills in editing and web page development that I would not have otherwise encountered.

Leaders have to make the hard choices for the good of the majority, and then inspire others to take an active role to pursue these goals right alongside their leader. A good leader prioritizes others and steps up to the challenges life presents, and that is exactly the kind of leader I aspire to be throughout all of my educational endeavors.