Senior Essay 56

As a senior in high school, I’ve had a lot of opportunities to demonstrate leadership, and I feel as though I was so late to do so. During freshman year, my peers were already getting involved with clubs and societies such as Student Council, Honor society, Sports, and so much more. I felt behind, like everyone had their life figured out and I was just there, observing them from the sidelines. How did anyone, especially someone straight out of middle school, how the ability to form these connections and find their path right away in high school? While I was still confused on what to eat for lunch that day? I don’t believe I truly answered that question, as I still spend 20 minutes deciding between pizza and chicken patty.
My sophomore year was different however, I had spent the summer of my freshman year in a Six-week intensive health sciences summer camp, where I learned how to open up as a student, and a friend. During the duration of the camp, I was introduced to so many health care fields, and careers, and learned how healthcare worked in lower income communities compared to high income communities, and how different their care is and can be. Observing this program really made me understand how important it was to advocate for people who couldn’t advocate for themselves, which ultimately allowed me to bring that advocacy into my school life.
Beginning of my Junior year, my friend had introduced me to DECA, a competitive program for students who wished to pursue business careers, where they tested your ethics, and your skills. I didn’t believe I would truly enjoy DECA, as I set on the medical field, and didn’t believe it would benefit me in anyway, but when she had came to me saying that her partner had dropped out the day before the competition, there was no way I was going to let her down. That night, I raided my Mother’s closet for her finest Sunday clothes, my Father’s for his long black blazer, and my older sister’s for her skinny pointy black shoes. I never felt more nervous than the night before the DECA Competition, not knowing what to expect when I arrived, only to know the feeling of accomplishment when I left. As the school year came to a close, so did our elective board, and club elections began. My friend and I decided to run, after we had ended up qualifying for state and even nationals. That morning we came up with the most presidential slides, put on our best smiles, and showcased our reasoning to the club. While many had seen our initiative and decided we were the best candidates, we lost in a close race against one of counterparts. We were upset, but still showed the club our best, coming into every meeting, practicing every weekend, and even being recognized during the school assembly.
As we reached our senior year, we began to notice the quality of the club slipping, slowly but surely. Practices were always rescheduled, our chapter had lost out on Two monthly competitions, and we were slowly losing our ranking amongst other schools such as Blue Valley, Olathe, and Lees Summit. Our teacher had quickly noticed this, as half the board had dropped out, and the president had ended up getting suspended. He had quickly reached out to me and my friend to take initiative, watching how we quickly we began to organize the club and get it back to order. We quickly took in the role, signing club documents, organizing practices, filling out spreadsheets, and even discussing future plans for the next school year.
During the midst of this chaos, Random Acts of Kindness club was founded. I was skeptical at first; starting a club so late into the year? So many students had doubted me in our journey of becoming a club. Many said that no one would join, solely because of the fact that it was November, and the semester was nearly over. However, I disagreed, and proved them wrong. Our first meeting took place the week before thanksgiving break. Students were burnt out and just ready to go home, and stuff their faces with turkey and thanksgiving dressing, so I wasn’t expecting a huge turnout, as we were an unknown club, and it seemed like no one was interested in attending. However, our 1st introductory meeting pulled in 30 students. A cafeteria full of high school students wanting to spread kindness while also keep track of their mental health, it seemed almost unreal to me. Our 1st meeting was a success, while our second meeting in December was more than popular. We’re only on our Fourth month but we’ve done so much to help our community, and even ourselves by conducting a range of meetings; from Making cards for hospitalized children, to creating and handing out compliment post-its for students to have an emotional boost.
I’m so grateful for the time I’ve spent at my school, for all of the doubt and last minute ideas, that motivated me enough to begin my own journey and not try to follow anyone else’s. From my time in DECA and Random acts of Kindness club, I’ve learned a lot from the people around me. I’ve become an influence for my younger siblings, my underclassmen friends, and my teachers, and I hope to fully demonstrate every peace of hope and leadership opportunity that they’ve instilled in me by letting their work in me shine through as I continue to navigate through college, and life. No one truly realizes how much the people around you affect you, until you’ve reached the finish line and looked back through every part of the journey. With their past guidance, I hope to demonstrate leadership by applying what I’ve learned as a student, mentor, and club president to every aspect of my life and to create what people doubt.