What a leader is by Zoe

What a leader is by Zoe - March 2015 Scholarship Essay

I believe that leadership is important because it is how a person can truly make a difference in the world. Personal accomplishments mean nothing if that person cannot help others and give to those around them. My work on my school newspaper has taught me how to take initiative and to lead by example.

When I was a sophomore, I was a staff reporter for my school newspaper and I didn’t have many responsibilities when it came to putting together the newspaper. However, since I enjoyed journalism, I tried to learn as much as possible and do more than was expected. My junior year, I became the editor of the Opinions section and the Copy Editor of the newspaper. That experience taught me that there is much value in hard work, even if many of the other students did not recognize this effort. Having a leadership position on the newspaper staff motivated me to view the newspaper with a wider lens. Instead of focusing only on my responsibilities, I learned to be concerned about the quality of the newspaper as a whole. This year as editor-in-chief, I started a website for the newspaper. Through starting a website, I learned that it is important to do my part to fill a void. I saw that my school's newspaper didn't have a website while other school newspapers did, and I wanted to change that. This experience is also teaching me how to be a leader, as I work with newspaper staff and my adviser to do something that we have never done before. Although our online paper has had some difficulty generating web traffic, this has not discouraged me from maintaining high standards. I have always tried to lead my staff by example and show that journalism must be accurate regardless of who’s reading.

It is important to be a leader, especially demonstrating leadership by example. A good leader not only tells people what to do, but shows them how to do it properly. Being on my school newspaper has taught me how to lead well; a skill I know will come in handy in the future.