Be Involved! by Michael

Be Involved! by Michael - April 2016 Scholarship Essay

My senior year in high school, I was elected to be drum major in the band. Having lived the band experience for the three previous years, I was familiar with the struggle that can happen to freshmen. They are hit with the realization that high school is hard and marching band with its early-morning and late-afternoon practices is even harder! Suddenly, they find that they are falling behind in homework, or can’t memorize the field drills, and they just want to quit all their extra-curricular activities, and band seems like the easiest thing to give up. But giving up comes with a cost. From my perspective, looking back on those years, I also knew the fun times, the memories, the hard-won successes, and the great friendships that come from a season of camaraderie. These are experiences that cannot be replaced, and the friendships that are forged are tight and long-lasting.

My advice to younger students is to be involved with a group activity, whether it is band, or orchestra, or football, or FFA, or whatever it is that has like-minded people working toward a shared goal. It is these shared experiences that will teach you about winning and losing, about time management, about being a friend, about having someone’s back and letting someone have yours. In other words, those experiences teach you about LIFE. No matter how good your grades are, or how hard you study, or where you choose to go to school, if you get involved in a team activity, there is no better way to prepare for a college life.