I never saw leadership as an opportunity to bark out orders or sit back while others do all the work. To be a truly effective leader, you have to be able to work alongside the people you are leading and show them what to do through example. I came to this realization while decorating our class hallway during homecoming week. Every year each class is assigned a hallway to decorate based on the homecoming theme. Usually, the Class President is in charge of planning what the hallway is going to look like and giving people specific jobs to spread out the work. When it came time to actually decorate the hall, however, I found that my fellow students were coming to me, the Class Secretary, for direction and guidance instead of the President. I realized
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Being a huge advocate for preserving the environment, I was chosen to participate in a program with thirty other students called the Stream Restoration Program. With a grant from The Maryland Department of Natural Resources our group planted 2,000 trees across Anne Arundel County to help improve the quality of the Chesapeake Bay. For each tree planting a student is assigned to lead the group and make sure all trees are planted correctly. Since planting trees is exceptionally hard work, most of the students take the leadership role as a way to get out of working. This makes the process so much longer since all the other students are frustrated and tired, while the leader just sits back. Realizing this, I took a different approach when my turn to lead arrived. I paired everyone up, assigned jobs, and told them that I would be working just as hard as everyone else to help get this done. This strategy lifted the moods of all the students and we planted two hundred trees in three hours - the fastest we have ever done a tree planting. Having served in many leadership positions ranging from a Class and Venture Crew Secretary, an Enrichment Teacher for my local elementary school or as Assistant Director for a local church, it is my hope that at the end of my terms those under my leadership will not only be proud of our accomplishments, but also the relationships we
Being a huge advocate for preserving the environment, I was chosen to participate in a program with thirty other students called the Stream Restoration Program. With a grant from The Maryland Department of Natural Resources our group planted 2,000 trees across Anne Arundel County to help improve the quality of the Chesapeake Bay. For each tree planting a student is assigned to lead the group and make sure all trees are planted correctly. Since planting trees is exceptionally hard work, most of the students take the leadership role as a way to get out of working. This makes the process so much longer since all the other students are frustrated and tired, while the leader just sits back. Realizing this, I took a different approach when my turn to lead arrived. I paired everyone up, assigned jobs, and told them that I would be working just as hard as everyone else to help get this done. This strategy lifted the moods of all the students and we planted two hundred trees in three hours - the fastest we have ever done a tree planting. Having served in many leadership positions ranging from a Class and Venture Crew Secretary, an Enrichment Teacher for my local elementary school or as Assistant Director for a local church, it is my hope that at the end of my terms those under my leadership will not only be proud of our accomplishments, but also the relationships we