Ohio by Samuel

Ohio by Samuel - December 2016 Scholarship Essay

A student stumbles into a classroom after an exhausting day of toughing out schoolwork, sitting monotonously through study halls, and desperately scratching down answers during
tests. He pauses as he enters the doorway, as if a shock wave of calmness hits him. He studies the room quickly, but the moment he gets a whiff of the strong aroma of cheese, sauce, and pepperoni he realizes what is causing this room to appear so heavenly. It is the euphoric scent of pizza.
It all started during the fall of 2014. I was adamant on the idea of forming one of the largest clubs in the school. I surveyed students and concluded that my best bet for gaining publicity would be through the ancient, sacred food known as pizza.

I enlisted three friends and a teacher adviser and almost immediately, the five of us met to plan for our first meeting. We would capture the taste buds of our interested classmates by hosting movie nights, eating contests, and cook-offs. To start things off with a bang, we would provide free pizza to the prospective members at our first meeting.

This was our first mistake. Without any funds from the growing society, we were forced to front the money ourselves, allotting an enormous sum to the organization. Moreover, another problem had arisen. We had forgotten to reserve our schools’ large group presentation room and, with no other option, we were relocated to the media center. And believe it or not, the media center did not have a presentation screen readily available for use, forcing me to present our ideas without the visual aid we had prepared.

Three hundred people showed up to the first meeting.

After this resounding success, discussion for future meetings lead us all the way into spring, and as most of the officers were associated with sports, we had almost no free time to plan future events. The hype began settling down and previous obligations took the forefront. I quickly threw together a movie night to respark the degrading positive energy associated with the name Pizza Society. Then I began regauging interest and the results were disheartening.

Due to sudden conflicts and abrupt commitments, the exciting movie night I had tried to coordinate ended up a disorganized mess and I knew that the club was falling apart. Later that week, I met with our advisor and explained my position. I told him how I was too busy to run it alone and wanted to dissolve this once-great organization.

With the officers disbanded, the society fell apart and it was lost in the labyrinth of our school’s history. I look back on that period in my life, and now, knowing why it failed, I believe I would be able to manage the Society even with the ever-increasing amount of activities I am involved in. For starters, I would collect money at the beginning of each meeting as people arrived and order the pizza from there, receiving input from participants about what topping they wanted. I would work around the officers’ and participants’ schedules and plan out the meetings far ahead of time. I would generate and execute on ideas to reduce the cost of the pizza we buy.

The management and planning skills I acquired from this failure were apparent when I faced the most difficult task I have ever taken on, my Eagle Scout Project. I planned a pasta dinner fundraiser, providing food and entertainment to hundreds of people, and raised almost $1300 to install directional signage on my high school campus. I planned out every detail of it beforehand, ensuring both success and quality. I believe that after learning from my mistakes, a second shot at the BBHHS Pizza Society would result in a club that is as steadfast as the school it resides in.

Although it can be seen as a great failure, in hindsight I have seen this as a great achievement. Classmates were given the opportunity to see how establishing a new club or organization can be both fulfilling and challenging. They were also able to observe where and how mistakes were made. Personally it taught me the value of teamwork and planning, providing me with the knowledge I needed to overcome the obstacles I was faced with while completing my Eagle Scout project.