NOPE by Nick

NOPE by Nick - March 2015 Scholarship Essay

Leadership can get you far in life. However, it is not necessary for college success. What is necessary is to stand up for yourself. This all hinges upon the idea of success and how we perceive it. All of us have different talents, personalities, and career goals. To be successful, one must pursue that which fulfills us as human beings. But one must not ignore the fact that everybody has a different story, a different upbringing, different talents, and different goals. In other words, each individual is distinct, and thus has a distinct standard for success.

Many people have different ideas of success. But the moment we make success something objective, most people do not object to equating success with happiness. After this step, the question becomes, “Are leadership skills necessary for one to be happy in college?” Most people would answer no to this question. However, society seems to see one side of the coin and not the other: All happy people are successful, but not all successful people are happy. The moment we create a separation between happiness and success is the moment that success becomes less meaningful.

For some people, leadership skills will be necessary for success in college. We all need someone to fulfill the role of the leader if it isn’t our own self. Those with leadership skills have them for a reason and like the development of any talent or gift, one will become happy doing so because one is enhancing the strongest and truest part of the self.

With this in mind, when we head off to college, we should strive to be the best we can be – the fulfillment of our truest selves, not the fulfillment of a standard prescribed for us by society. While not everyone has inherent leadership skills, everyone has the ability to take courage and stand for who one is. This courage is the root of happiness, and thus success. For some of us, this courage takes root in becoming a leader. For others, it does not. But what matters is that this courage leads to not only the knowledge of the self (gnothi seauton), but success and happiness.