Conquering Drama Club by Rania

Conquering Drama Club by Rania - December 2016 Scholarship Essay

A school accomplishment I am most proud of would be taking on the responsibility of being president of my school’s drama club. When I first joined the club as a sophomore, I met a plethora of people from all different types of cliques around the school. These people were not who I would usually talk to and, were it not for drama club bringing us together, I would not have otherwise made an effort to get to know them. And although different people with different mindsets surrounded me, I never once felt out of place. Drama Club is where I could go to, well, be dramatic and act out. It was an outlet for my creativity. It was a learning environment where I was challenged to get out of my comfort zone, and once I was comfortable, I was again challenged to get out of that comfort zone. Over the two, almost three, years of attending meetings, acting in skits, and performing monologues, I learned to let go of the nervousness I brought with me to high school and to just be comfortable in my own skin.

Attending the weekly meetings throughout my sophomore and junior years in high school weren’t only events I looked forward to going to, it was extra work that I had to maintain if I wanted to keep expressing myself in a way I couldn’t in class. The Drama Club president, at the time I was a junior, was a senior who never let us become bored and always kept us on our toes. She was constantly coming up with exercises and plays to perform. I began to find myself looking up to her as a role model and started to develop a friendship with her that was very strong.

I pushed myself to take on greater responsibilities in Drama Club and ran for president in the end of my junior year for the upcoming year. I ran against a very qualified peer who was far more experienced than I. He already had experience in being treasurer of two other clubs and president of another. After he was done boasting about his aptitude, I took one look around at the faces looking me and began to speak my mind. I detailed passionately my love for this club and the people in it and how I was always a face one would see at club meetings. I would not let the club members down because I planned to work hard and fulfill my responsibilities. After the votes were cast and my name was announced as the new treasurer, I knew I not only had to do my job but to do it so well as to set an example for all others who would one day take my place.

On my first day of school as a high school senior and as Drama Club president, I was flooded with paperwork and responsibilities to carry out. That was when I fully understood the position my predecessor was put in and realized the one thing she did wrong in her time as president; she did not delegate responsibilities to her executive board, who were only there to help her. Although I respected the previous president and wished to be as fair and fun as she, I also had a club that needed to be maintained and the best way I believed that would happen was through teamwork.

It has been halfway through the year and Drama Club has gained many colorful members, both old and new, who contribute greatly to the club. We are already in the planning process of our second annual play, and intend to achieve the same level, if not more, enthusiasm this year as last year’s play did. Under my presidency, Drama Club has raised more than sufficient funding to produce not only a play, but multiple skits to be performed on numerous other days.

This club has become, in a way, my child. I am incredibly proud as to how far my actors, stage managers, and prop designers have come in such a short period of time and how far they will keep going in the years to come, way past my graduation and theirs. I am proud to be leaving a legacy not only physically, but in the hearts and minds of all with whom I've worked.