Post #1

To me, leadership is defined by calm in the face of pressure. A leader is somebody who can guide people through a difficult task or event while ensuring that everybody remains in a normal state of mind. The people I know who I think of as leaders exhibit a cool head when they are looked to for answers. Thinking back, my greatest leadership experience came during my senior year of high school. I was assigned to a freshman homeroom to help guide the younger students. That was one of the first times that I remember realizing that I was a role model in their eyes, and I had to do my best to show them how to adjust to some of the difficulties of high school. Even though I still felt like a kid who didn’t really have anything figured out, I had to help them with problems that I had dealt with just a few years previously. Everything from new classes and coming from a grade school where they didn’t know anybody to talking to girls at mixers were brought up, and I had to do my best to assure them that they would turn out fine. While I clearly didn’t have the answers to all of their questions, this experience led me to be more comfortable both in my skin and in leadership positions in general. While before my senior year I tended to shy away from positions of leadership, fearing that people would not see me as capable, I realized that a lot of the time being a leader can be the same as being there for people. Since this experience, I have stepped up into several leadership positions, including captaincy for intramural teams that I never would have considered in the past. Due to this formative experience, the definition of leadership for me has become one more synonymous with empathy and a willingness to try rather than purely strength.