key to success by Miguel

key to success by Miguel - March 2015 Scholarship Essay

Leadership is being the kind of person that people want to follow. This requires engaging people passionately, from the heart, and persuading them to change and improve.

At the beginning of my high school football career I was a follower, and I really didn't know what leadership was. The older players were the leaders of the whole team. They brought out so much excitement and enthusiasm in all of us; they just made the game of football more fun. They poured their whole hearts out into every practice and game. After my sophomore year, I transferred to a smaller school, a private school called John Paul II. When I first started the football program at JPII I was quiet and kept to myself. As the days went on I remembered what the older players at my previous school did for the football team, and I realized that I’d have to lead the JPII team; I decided to try pumping them up before a game. The guys were not enthusiastic at first, but as I kept a chant going they slowly became more excited. Some were still uncomfortable. Finally, to get everyone’s attention and let them know that I was going to be by their side every step of the way, I lead them into a prayer chant that the pros do: “Dear lord, in the battles we go through in life, we ask for a chance that’s fair, a chance to equal our stride, a chance to do or dare. If we should win let it be by the code, faith and honor held high; if we should lose let us stand by the road and cheer as the winners go by, DAY BY DAY, WE GET BETTER AND BETTER, TIL WE CANT BE BEAT WONT BE BEAT!!!”

This is just an example of leadership; it’s important to have leadership skills in college because you certainly don't want to be a follower. There will be times were a friend would say "hey lets go to a party", but you know that you have homework to do or you have an exam coming up, those are the times were you can not be a follower and follow the wrong path because at the end you want success and making rash decision to go party is not the way. Being a leader and telling your friend "maybe next time" or "no I cant I have a lot of work to do." This will show that you’re serious about what is important to you and it puts education first as a top priority. If you know that your friend has homework or needs to study for an exam, you could tell them that you yourself have work to do and let them know that you could help them or study with them so that both of you have success.

Leadership is the key in college you know what’s right and wrong, so you need to make the right decisions. College is meant to achieve success and test you to see how mature you really are in order to make the best decisions.