The question for my essay was:
Do you have any personal life experiences where you have overcome adversity or challenges that have shaped you into the person you are today?
I was mostly focused on creating a balance between my personal experience and leadership philosophy. I really wanted to write an essay that would be short and to the point, while also being somewhat inspiring in order to make my application stand out.
Please let me know if you have any suggestions or tips that could help.
Essay:
One of the greatest learning experiences in my life came from my first year of high school marching band. My school's band program had been struggling for years, until my freshman year when we received a new director. Mr. Miller was a professional who didn't take time to coddle anybody. We quickly got used to strict rehearsals as well as rigorous physical and mental expectations. Rain or ice, we were out on the marching field, intent on going to state.
Our greatest challenge, however, was not a new director, but a number of upperclassmen unwilling to cooperate. Eventually, I realized that in the absence of leadership, it was time for me to step up. With the help of other dedicated members, I found that we were able to challenge everyone to better themselves. I learned that to truly succeed, we had to stop working as individuals and cooperate as a team. I learned that if the team is weak, it is because the leaders are failing to help those who are falling behind. Ultimately, leadership is about caring for the members of the team. When our first contest came around, we surprised everyone by making the top 5.
In the end, we came up just short of state, which was devastating, but taught me another lesson: victory does not make one stronger, learning from failure does.
The whole experience taught me many things about life. Every individual is instrumental to the team, so if one fails, we all fail. Every team member is responsible for the shortfalls of the other because there is always something that can be done to help each other along. Lastly, a few victories do not guarantee triumph, a commitment to outwork the competition does.
We may not have gone to state then, but next year is a state year, and our band will be there. I am sure of this because our leaders are committed to outwork, outlearn, and outlead every other school.
Do you have any personal life experiences where you have overcome adversity or challenges that have shaped you into the person you are today?
I was mostly focused on creating a balance between my personal experience and leadership philosophy. I really wanted to write an essay that would be short and to the point, while also being somewhat inspiring in order to make my application stand out.
Please let me know if you have any suggestions or tips that could help.
Essay:
One of the greatest learning experiences in my life came from my first year of high school marching band. My school's band program had been struggling for years, until my freshman year when we received a new director. Mr. Miller was a professional who didn't take time to coddle anybody. We quickly got used to strict rehearsals as well as rigorous physical and mental expectations. Rain or ice, we were out on the marching field, intent on going to state.
Our greatest challenge, however, was not a new director, but a number of upperclassmen unwilling to cooperate. Eventually, I realized that in the absence of leadership, it was time for me to step up. With the help of other dedicated members, I found that we were able to challenge everyone to better themselves. I learned that to truly succeed, we had to stop working as individuals and cooperate as a team. I learned that if the team is weak, it is because the leaders are failing to help those who are falling behind. Ultimately, leadership is about caring for the members of the team. When our first contest came around, we surprised everyone by making the top 5.
In the end, we came up just short of state, which was devastating, but taught me another lesson: victory does not make one stronger, learning from failure does.
The whole experience taught me many things about life. Every individual is instrumental to the team, so if one fails, we all fail. Every team member is responsible for the shortfalls of the other because there is always something that can be done to help each other along. Lastly, a few victories do not guarantee triumph, a commitment to outwork the competition does.
We may not have gone to state then, but next year is a state year, and our band will be there. I am sure of this because our leaders are committed to outwork, outlearn, and outlead every other school.