KC Royals Charities Scholarship Essay

Over the years, I have always considered myself as a follower and not a leader. I always thought I was more fit to listen, follow instructions, and do what the leader tells me to do, and I’m really good at those things. I didn’t think of myself as a good leader because I’m very shy, and I’m not used to telling people what they need to do. However, there was one experience that had me take on leadership, and it taught me that there is more to being a leader than just giving demands and assigning roles; it’s about taking responsibility, carrying the pressure when it’s down to its breaking point, and handling the task at hand no matter what it takes. That experience was when I was in the 20/20 Olympics event during my junior year in 20/20 Leadership. This experience not only taught me the true importance of leadership, but it has also inspired me to take control of the situation when it’s at its most vulnerable.

During my junior year of high school, I was a member of the 20/20 Leadership program. I had been in the program for three years now, with my senior year being my last. We had an event coming up that we needed to prepare for called the 20/20 Olympics. The 20/20 Olympics is where each of us give a presentation about a project that will help make our community, or our school community to put more specifically, a better place to be in. During this event, 18 schools would compete against each other for an award for the Best Overall Presentation, the Legacy Award, and the Leadership Award just to name a few, and it was going to take place at the Children’s Mercy Hospital Stage. After that, there was an event called the Shining Stars Award Ceremony.”

There the winners of the 20/20 Olympics were announced, along with senior scholarship awardees.
At one point, I was working on the 20/20 Leadership project with two other classmates from my school, and the project was going to be called “Keep Our School Clean”, which is where we would clean the outside of our school, and pick up trash. I was secretly hesitant at first because I wasn’t sure how I was going to do this on our own. I could comprehend how I was going to do this project on top of school work, and on top of student council. Plus I had to ask the principal for permission for this project to happen. Excluding my teachers, I have never asked somebody who is in high authority for something I need before. However, my hidden anxiety shrank when we had a meeting one day, and we got the opportunity to ask our principal for permission to start our project. He gave us the okay, and then we started putting our presentation together. We ended up coming up with the idea of starting a fundraiser for t-shirts with our slogan “Keep Our School Clean” in order to earn the money we need for cleaning supplies. We came up with the idea of partnering with our school’s JROTC program. We also wanted the event to be counted as a community service opportunity for students because everyone needs 40 hours of community service in order to graduate. Additionally, we thought that it would be a great idea to gather other students’ inputs to how clean they think our school is.

Fast forward to the last few days before the 20/20 Olympics event, we continued to put our presentation together and we were finally able to finish. Since my two partners didn’t show up to the last few meetings we had, Ms. Nicole told me that I might have to give the presentation myself. Not wanting to be the only school that didn’t present, I agreed and prepared for the presentation. On the day of the event, as expected, my two partners didn’t show up with one of them being absent. When we got to the Children’s Mercy Research Institute, I was extremely nervous. I was afraid that I might mess up, stutter, cry and have my voice break in front of everybody. It was all I was thinking about almost the entire day, and being even more stressed out, I was holding back tears, trying not to cry. After our introduction, each group of students from different schools got up to present; my anxiety rose as it got closer and closer to my turn. When the 17th school started to present their presentation, my anxiety was at full power because I knew that after they had finished, it would be my turn.

Ms. Nicole, Ms. Heather, and Ms. Caitlyn saw that I was struggling to keep my composure, so they had me step outside to help me calm down, and help me feel confident and get through my presentation. Ms. Heather told me to put my hand on my hips, and look up at the sky. As I did as I was told, I felt like a superhero: powerful, confident, determined, like I was in a trailer of an action movie. Once I had found reassurance, it was my turn to give my presentation. I went up on stage, took a deep breath, and spoke. I gave my presentation proudly, while I cringed at the moment I played the video because I felt awkward as it played. After I was finished, everyone gave me a great round of applause, and I stepped down on stage, and I exploded in tears. Everyone was congratulating me for giving my presentation so proudly and confidently. I felt proud of myself, and everyone else was proud of me as well. My presentation was so good in fact, that on the day of the Shining Stars Ceremony, I won Overall Best Presentation and the Project’s Leadership Award! I was given two certificates for each award and a gold medal for each presentation.

This entire experience has been a huge learning experience for me, and has taught me to take charge and to not underestimate myself. It taught me that I am more capable of a task than I think, and more confident than I think. When I start my career as a veterinarian, I will be able to take charge of the task at hand, and handle it when no one else is able to. I will allow my teammates to help me carry a situation on our backs until we reach the finish line. I will be able to listen, and pitch in, and do my part in helping our task be complete. In addition, this experience has taught me that leadership is about pitching in, carrying the rest of the load, listening to others, and taking one for the team.