Someone Everyone Wants to Be: by Victoria

Someone Everyone Wants to Be: by Victoria - March 2015 Scholarship Essay

“Go with the Flow” is a phrase that goes back to Julius Caesar, although this phrase has only recently become common it easily explains how most people have lived their lives throughout history. In life, I believe the most important thing one should be is one’s self. Entering college most students find themselves playing the role of a sheep, lost in the herd of many searching for their start in life. As students become lost in the chaos of starting college they tend to lose who they are in order to fit in.

At the age of seventeen, a senior in high school, and daughter of a retired military leader; the traits of being a true leader to me are: being not afraid to be independent, not afraid of standing up for what is right and what one beliefs in, being honest without expectations, not losing focus on the end goal, helping others to accomplish their goals, and to keep your integrity while doing all of the above.

In college, the need to fit in overwhelms the need to stand out. But if everyone fits in, then who stands out? A leader stands out to everyone. Evolving from high school to college is the most critical growth point in every student’s life. The traits that make a leader are the same traits that make a happy successful adult. Standing up for one’s beliefs and not letting others change your view on what is right is important in the role of being mentally on the right track in order to reach one’s end graduation goal. In college there are countless distractions, in order to not stray from one’s goal, one must stay focused on school work and have the courage to speak out to others about how important it is to graduate. So far I have learned the key to being a leader is having great integrity. Throughout college, opportunities to cheat in classes or get intoxicated at parties are going to present themselves, but a leader has the integrity to politely and honestly do the right thing with the aim of graduating.

I believe that I am on my way to becoming a leader due to my high school life lessons and accomplishments which are: being a charter member of Picayune Memorial Interact Club, charter member of Picayune Memorial Chess Club, created a bridge for community service between Picayune Memorial High School students and Pearl River SPCA, organized and started gardens throughout school campus alongside Beta Club, and am currently attempting to organize a scholarship foundation to raise awareness for suicide.