Leadership In College by Tyler

Leadership In College by Tyler - March 2015 Scholarship Essay

President John Kennedy once said, “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” Leadership skills are imperative to being a well-rounded student at any level of education. Leadership skills are the difference between working a job and developing the career you aspire. According to University of Oregon's Holden Leadership Center, there are many characteristics of being a leader. Three components listed are being organized, having initiative, and being respectful. These three characteristics can not only lead you to be a successful student, but a successful business person as well.

Organizational skills are essential to having college success. College can be stressful, and without organization, balancing college and life's activities can be complete chaos. These skills include keeping a set schedule and keeping your assignments for each class in order. If you keep a set schedule for each week, it makes prioritizing weekly tasks easier. When setting a schedule, one must take into consideration that unexpected situations may come up, forcing them to adapt to a revised schedule. You should always write down your weekly schedule ahead of time in a planner or someplace you'll often look. I tend to organize my plans in the reminder section on my phone, so I will get a notification at the exact time I need to begin my next task. Keeping your assignments in order is essential to being organized because if you don't keep them in order, you'll never get anything done.

Having initiative is another major part of being a leader. In college, you may take certain classes in which you have to complete group assignments. Someone will need to take the initiative to reach out to the other members, discuss topics, and assign roles according to the rubric. There is a fine line between leadership and dictatorship. Showing initiative is meant to show your eagerness to achieve your goals, not to be the boss of someone. If you don't show initiative, especially in majors like communications, you won't succeed in the industry.

Without respect, leadership is dictatorship. You must respect your peers; your team members, and most importantly yourself. In college, if you're a great leader, you'll earn respect from the professors and your classmates. In order to show respect, you must be able to compromise and incorporate others' ideas into your own. You must be careful how you voice your ideas. If you disagree with what they're saying, you have the right to do so, but in a respectful manner. In order to show respect, you must be able to communicate without being argumentative. Respect is vital in every aspect of life. For most people, you have to give respect to receive respect.

In reference to President Kennedy's quote stated above, the amount of indispensability between education and leadership is astronomical. In order to excel in education at any level, especially in college, you have to be a leader. You should not only strive to become a leader in school, but in your community as well. Tomorrow's leaders will change the world with the help of others. To co-exist as human beings in society and excel as a generation, we must learn to enforce these three characteristics into our daily lives. There are plenty of characteristics needed to be a leader, but showing initiative, being respectful, and being organized are the stepping stones to becoming such a leader.