Through the years, I have had several chances of a leadership position. One of my favorite leadership experience was being the captain of our high school football team and being the leader of the youth group from my time at a Christian school. I took the initiative of being the leader of my youth group at my church as I believed I would optimally direct my peers to living a positive life that adheres to Christian values. Through these positions, I attained significant qualities associated with good leadership. The various leaderships traits I obtained through these positions include: being an optimal listener, a good team player, and accepting.
I practiced my leadership skills and being part of a team when our school participated in basketball tournaments. Being the team captain, I had to lead and motivate the team in ways that would guarantee victory for our team. As a leader and team player, I took the initiative of encouraging individuals to present their views and brainstorm to establish ways that would assist the team to attain victory. In such cases, I utilized my alluring qualities of leadership to ensure everyone followed the procedure. Being the team captain of our high school basketball team provided me the chance of playing on both a winning and losing team. As such, it offered me the chance of viewing life as a winner and also accepting defeat and finding ways of bouncing back.
My experience as a leader enabled me to realize that even when one loses a match or slips on their personal values, one must not give up but find ways of getting back up. I realized that it is best to identify one’s errors as this will allow one to deal with them and become beneficial to a team. When getting back up, one is often mentally and physically prepared as they have realized what made them fail the first time. For instance, in the matches that we lost, we deliberated and realized that lack of team coordination lead to our defeat. As such, we worked on our coordination and it proved beneficial as we won subsequent matches back to back. As a leader, I would credit my success to learning from my mistakes and listening to my peers.
Service
Community Service is essential for numerous reasons. I believe that being a part of and volunteering in community service imparts compassion to the people involved. One of the things I favor when it comes to community service is the fact that it offers choices and opportunities for the less fortunate in the society. In addition community service allows one to volunteer for what one actually believes in and is interested in, and gives one the chance to volunteer to the best of their ability either physically or financially.
When I was still residing in Nigeria, I volunteered for my school in assisting the people in need. We basically dealt with delivering relief food to villages and assisting the children in learning how to read the bible. During my first encounter, I was less enthusiastic as I had not taken part in any community service before. However, as I identified with my colleagues, I learnt to enjoy my time as a volunteer. The experience was rewarding as I was able to do numerous things that I would not have had the chance of doing, such as travelling to different counties in Nigeria. I realized that the key to community service is performing out of choice rather than having an ulterior motive. As we met with diverse schools, I realized that there were several students who merely took part since they needed service hours for their institution. Most of them just sat down and passed time playing games and did not take part in the experiences offered by the program.
Participating in community service out of choice is fun and beneficial. One of the benefits is that it increases one’s chances of acquiring a job or entering a good college. In my life skills lecture, my teacher usually talked about how community service makes a difference in society, which further motivated me to consider taking part in community service in the future.
Life Experience
I have experienced many challenges in my life but the most challenging one was during the time I relocated to America as this was a big step for me. I was extremely depressed and constantly though of how I would survive in America, such as how I would make new friends, adjust to the lifestyle and the food. Moving from Nigeria indicated that I would have to start my life afresh, with no friends and relatives around and a different culture altogether. From the time I arrived, I longed of going back home to my comfort zone where I felt secure and safe.
I believed that I had a higher chance of failing my education as the education system was completely different from what I was used to. The most challenging part was the language barrier and my Nigerian accent. Being in a completely new place was hard as I barely knew the cities and streets and had a tough time communicating. Since I was shy, I found it hard to make friends who would assist me in adjusting to the new culture. I was constantly worried about my accent whether in school, the mall, or the entertainment spots. Most of the time, people could not understand me despite my best efforts to communicate in English.
Upon the realization that the language barrier was the root cause of my challenges in my new country, I decided to enroll for English classes where I would learn proper ways of communicating with people. In addition, I took part in tours so as to familiarize myself with the city and streets to prevent getting lost. My decision to take control of my fear of language barrier allowed me to cope well in my new country as it improved my self-esteem, which in turn allowed me to make friends. I started to recognize that I made the right decision taking control of my fears and moving to America. In addition, started believing in myself as I was forced to do everything to solve the challenges by myself, which allowed me to organize my life and attain my goals.
Support System
I have the belief that everyone needs that one individual or group that they go to for assistance or advice throughout life. I usually refer to my mother as the best support system I ever had. Throughout the changes in my life, my mother has always been there for me through highs and the lows as I developed. She ensured that I always had a meal even though she is a single mother. She works endless shifts as a nurse to ensure she gets that extra money that will allow me to pursue my education. My mother has been there for me from the time I was graduating high school and moving to America for my college education. She provided support that allowed me to cope better with the transition to a new culture.
I have identified with the value of education ever since I was a child. The majority of my relatives lacked the opportunity of attending higher education, which was detrimental to their life as they have been experiencing numerous struggles in both their professional and personal lives. As such, my mother made a commitment early in my life to work as hard as she can to instill in me the desire of attaining a good education and understanding the significance of hard work and devotion.
Acquiring financial aid to fund my education will allow me to accomplish my dream of becoming an engineer. In addition, I will have the opportunity of being the first person in my entire village to attend college, which would allow me to also realize my mother’s dream of giving me a proper education. The scholarship will allow me to apply similar diligence to my collegiate education as I did in high school, prioritizing service to others and education.
