How I became an effective leader by Skylar

How I became an effective leader by Skylar - April 2019 Scholarship Essay

I had never been a position of power before; I had participated in clubs, but I had always just been a member. This changed my junior year when I took on my first leadership role as Assistant Editor-in-Chief for our school publication. Even though I was Assistant Editor-in-Chief, I still had to write stories every week because our publication wasn’t big enough for me to just copy-edit stories.

At first, it was difficult for me to adapt the demands of this position. I had to make myself available to answer other staff members’ questions or concerns during class, while also working to get interviews for my own story. What helped me manage all of this was developing a schedule. I decided that I would answer staff members’ questions at the start of class and go out on interviews during the rest of class. If a staff member had any additional questions that they weren’t able to ask me, I let them know they could message me through email or text. This helped open up communication between the staff and I.

Throughout the whole year, I submitted a story every week and never had a late story. I also edited everyone’s stories in a timely fashion. By developing good time management skills, I was able to balance getting the work done that I needed to do for my story as well as helping staff members to develop their stories and editing them after they were submitted for review. This is how I overcame the academic challenge of assuming more responsibility in my Journalism/Student Publication class.