The following is an essay that I wrote as apart of my Flinn Scholarship Application. The prompt was to explain how I have been a leader in my community.
"No one else is running for president so congratulations are in order." The text flashed across my phone and I immediately felt ready to get to work. Key Club at McClintock was far from perfect, in fact, it was failing. The final meeting before school shutdown held a total of eight members, if even that, and half of them were officers. I had always envisioned Key Club to be something extraordinary and life-changing but when I joined my freshmen year, that vision was met with disappointment and only declined as the years went on. So when I got my congratulations message, I could already see the potential for what I could do. I took it upon myself to prepare and plan. I spent the majority of my summer laying down a foundation that would allow us to build something beautiful upon it. I reached out to members of our division who weren't even aware we had a club anymore and reestablished every relationship that had been tarnished for years. The lack of advisor left open a door of possibility for someone to walk through. I spent days emailing back and forth with my administrators trying to find someone who wanted to take on the job. Slowly but surely, I assembled my team of fellow officers and we created a game plan to rebuild our neglected club from old rubble left behind. Now our meetings average a total of forty students who are active members and aspire to serve. We've held a meeting with our newly elected mayor to discuss leadership in times of strife. The year has barely begun and we are lightyears ahead of where we've been. My leadership is about taking on challenges no one else will and seeing the possibilities even if no one else can.