Discuss your involvement in and contributions to a community near your home, school, or elsewhere. Please select an experience different from the one you discussed in the previous question, even if this experience also involved leadership. What did you accomplish? How did this experience influence your goals?
Many people have told me that I have the potential to be a leader. I have also heard that I am a leader. However, I like to think of myself as a leader with shifting followers. Or even as a Leader for rent, with progress as my payment. As Shakespeare once said, “Some are born to greatness, some achieve greatness and others have greatness thrust upon them” I merely find myself the latter of the three.
I do not think of myself as leader because all leaders have a way of being thrust to the side eventually by another. I think that I am more of a person who is walking one direction and if a group just happens to be walking the same way just slightly behind me then I will show them what is ahead of them through examples. It is then their responsibility and choice to learn.
For instance, when I was younger, my cousins and I wanted to go for a nature hike in the mountains behind our home. While the others had their eyes on reaching the peak of the mountaintop, I kept my eyes on our surroundings. I was the first to notice that a rattlesnake was only feet from us. To make sure that no one panicked, I off handedly suggested that we take a look at an interesting looking rock formation several yards away. When I deemed the situation was under control, I broke the news of the rattlesnake to the eldest of us as calmly as possible, even though I could barely control my own tormented emotions. I then let one of my older cousins take control in leading us back home. The need to be in charge at all times eludes me. If the group or I feel that there is another who is more capable of leading, I will hand them control. My goal was to walk my own way and if some just happen to follow, then so be it.
I will never turn my back on someone in need if I can help him or her. If I cannot, then it is my duty to find someone who will. I know what a leader is. A leader is someone who puts their own personal gain and wants behind that of the groups. A leader is a worker for his or her group; they do what is best for everyone. They also know who they are and their morals are strong. It was during my junior year of high school that my ideals on a leader where tested.
I was elected as the vice president of the National Honor Society. Although I was afraid and did not feel I was ready to lead so large a group, I knew that I had to try. After a while I began to become accustomed to helping the president of National Honor Society. More than my executive role, I was still a member. I helped in the semiannual Naakai Park Clean Up and the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital’s Trivia. I felt that I was making a difference by putting in my own comments and observations so the president’s term went as smoothly as possible. Through my junior year as vice president, I lead through example. That very same year, our organization held elections for next year’s officers and I was nominated for the presidency.
I was shocked that I had been considered with such an honor. However, I knew that with our sponsor's impending departure from the Tohatchi High School staff, we needed a leader who could carry us through the next year. As much as I knew that it would look great on a resume, I knew even more that the organization needed a responsible, strong and trustworthy president. At first, my speech was to be about all the qualities I have that would make me a good president. However, when the time came for me to give my speech, I merely stated what I felt; with our sponsor gone, we would need a great president to not only lead us but to lead the new sponsor as well. As the other nominations for president and I stepped into the hall so the voting could commence, I felt relived that I had made my peace with the other members.
I was told later on that the race was so close that the promoter had to ask for voters to vote again. In the end, I was elected as the 2006-2007 president for National Honor Society. It is with the thought that some members do not deem me worthy of the position that I strive harder to become a leader they can be proud of. I made my intentions known at the National Honor Society Induction where I was to give a speech. I said with deep sincerity that I would do my best to lead them and that I would draw my inspiration from other leaders that have lead our people. People like Chief Manulito, who knew even when times were hard on this tribe that education was the pathway to greater things. This experience has taught me that my ideas of a leader where not all farfetched.
I am still trying to find out who I am but along the journey I will help others determine who they want to be. I do know what areas that I need work on, so that means I can improve. I have had the National Honor Society teach me more than I could ever give back. With the experiences it has allowed me I know that one day I will become a leader that everyone would be proud to follow
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