Alumni Essay 50

Leadership 20/20 grew me as not only a leader but a person, throughout my journey I’ve learned what a leader truly is. Leadership isn’t one dimensional, it is a fluid position. 

Everyone in our junior group in Youth Lead KC has a purpose and goal, They led in their own unique way. I personally was tasked with being a reporter. I recorded the voices of our community in order to gather information on how we should approach the 20/20 Olympics. We had gathered different responses within the community on what an improvement we could accomplish within the realm of capability given by 20/20 Olympics

We saw an issue within the Kansas City community. Kansas City severely lacks programs to aid the homeless population. We decided that they would be our target for a problem left unsolved within the community. We decided we would give out essentials, not only to the homeless community but those who need it. Our goal is if we gave out these essentials, we would give people one less thing that they’d need to spend money on and let them use their money for other things like food, monthly payments, and or save that money. These essentials included shampoo, soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, mouthwash, and more. 

As a reporter I was the one who gathered the information about the problem, and helped the group create an idea of what we were doing. I didn’t directly tell everyone what to do, or create the idea for the group, but as a leader in my own mission I brought information for the others to use. As a reporter my job was to record the responses, which I did to the best of my ability by creating an interview with the people who had something to say and platformed it within our presentation for the 20/20 Olympics. This interview video was actually one of the reasons why we won, it was because I led my group as a reporter, to show that these were real concerns within the community. 

This greatly subverted my expectations, because as a reporter, I expected my role to be minor. At first I chose to be a reporter because I thought it would be a minor/easy job. That narrative was broken when one of the highlights of the presentation by the judges was the interview. That’s when my narrative broke.

The truth is there is no minor job in a group, everyone is essential in leading the group. I thought the job of presenters and manager would be the most important job to guarantee our success, but I ended up being important too. I realize now we were all leading in our own part, and the presentation was equally dependent on us. No matter what position you are, you’re leading your group by having them depend on you. 

In the future, I want to lead in my own way. I realize now that leadership is fluid, so I no longer avoid leadership, but embrace it.

I want to lead my boxing gym into becoming better boxers. I want to lead my family by showing that it is possible to follow your dream and find where you belong. Most importantly I want to lead the future graduates from my school by leaving a legacy on the school. I want my school’s legacy to be based on what me and fellow graduates will accomplish in the future. I want my school’s legacy to be that I went to the Olympics for boxing, that I pursued and finished my degree, that I brought my mother out of her endless minimum wage work, and that I let her find where she belongs.

Leaving a legacy means going out of your comfort zone and getting it done so that others can succeed and know it’s possible, and that’s exactly what I plan doing. 

So as an ambitious student wanting to leave their legacy, I ask that you leave your legacy by considering me for this scholarship.