The following is an essay that I wrote as apart of my University of Virginia Application. The prompt was to describe a time when instead of complaining, I took action for the greater good.
"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. I took something that everyone always complained about and turned it into something people praise.