“And the winner is…” not me. Student council elections were coming up, and everyone was encouraging me to run. All of my friends were running, and “the only way” senior year would be fun is if I was a part of student council. I jumped on the opportunity to run for vice president when the sign-up sheets came out. I came up with clever slogans such as “vote fLEXi to build a stronger student body,” and I plastered them along the school walls to make my peers laugh. Now I sit in first hour with fingers crossed as I wait to hear the announcement: “And the winner is…” not me. My heart drops, and I feel my cheeks get hot as my classmates look over to me. I somehow manage to hold it together until I make it to my car after school where I break down. I feel bitter and angry toward my opponent for beating me and at my friends for encouraging me to run. I refuse to be involved in my school’s leadership next year. …show more content…
Fast forward three months to my senior year, and my former English teacher is encouraging me to run for senior class president.
Um. Is this a joke? She wants me, a girl that couldn’t win a student council VICE presidency election, to go against four other girls for the class PRESIDENT role? At this point I am faced with two options: I could succumb to my negative thoughts by allowing my failure to bring me down, or I could use my failure to motivate me. With a sudden burst of adrenaline, I fill out the sign-up sheet to run for class president and turn it in. There’s no going back now, and this time, I spend hours campaigning, coming up with countless slogans, and staying after school to encourage others to vote for
me. Now I feel an odd sense of déjà vu as I sit in first hour with fingers crossed, waiting to hear the announcement: “And the winner is… LEXI BAGROSKY!” WHAT? I swear my eyes nearly bulge out of my head as I hear my name and my classmates’ applause. ??? Everyone is faced with those two options, to give up or to persevere after a failure. I chose to persevere, using my failure to motivate me, and six months from now, as a result, I will be one of three students giving a speech at my graduation in front of thousands of people. I hope to use this experience of failure and perseverance to motivate others throughout my life and career.
During 2017, the fall of my senior year, we held elections for National Honor Society President. I was one of the members selected and later got elected into the position. This position has taught me the importance of quality leadership in order for the success of a program along with how to prioritize my time and stay organized while helping to engage members to enable them to be the best people they can be. Throughout my months as president, I have contributed experience, advice, and leadership alongside hours and hours of time put into an array of projects benefiting both the school and the community as a whole. Experiencing this event which has influenced both my leadership and service to my community has influenced my future plans through
Earlier this year, I was selected as my local chapter’s delegate to the American Legion Jersey Boys State. This was a new experience for me as this was the first time I was away from home with no one I knew. The main focus of that weeklong seminar was elections and although I knew I was competing against some of the best students in the state, I wanted to see what I could do. So I ran to be my floor’s ward leader, and won. Then I ran for my city council member, and won. Then I ran to by my county Vice-chair, and won. Then I ran to be my county senator, and lost. This was by far the most disappointing moment of the week. I had worked hard to climb up the mock political ladder and even had started imagining making it to the top. However, the
“Who’s going to step up?”. “Who’s going to change this?”. People ask these questions everyday. I realize that I have never truly thought about the defining characteristics of a leader. I was given a list of qualities and upon reading it, I proudly realized that I demonstrate leadership. But the important consideration should not be how I successfully match this definition, but instead why I do it. I was elected treasurer for the class of 2016, a student body elected official, and hold that position of responsibility by attending meetings weekly, promoting school activities (such as homecoming), and participating in student council planning and events as much as possible. I wanted to become treasurer because I wanted a say in decisions that impacted our class. I wanted to be recognized as an individual that my peers could come to with questions and concerns.
The second year of the competition, I was only one of two returning students. I took an active role in recruiting new students, and our membership doubled. It was a complete role reversal for me because all of a sudden I was the experienced team member. We finished fifth out of forty teams at the regional competition, and at the national tournament, we placed in the top third.
This is when I decided to try and become a member of the student council. I was elected and soon loved it. My school is very important to me and I wanted to do my very best to make it the best possible high school experience for not only me, but every student that attends White Bear Lake. I found that was helpful to have many different views on the council, and I think I brought a new view that was not accounted for before. Being a hockey captain my senior year, I was elected to be in Leadership Academy. This group meets and talks about how to most effectively lead our sports teams as well as the school. This is very important to me because as a leader I want to set the best example possible for my peers and this group allows me to improve my leadership skills to make them even better. I value this program very much because I think it will help me to succeed in the future, because these skills are lifelong skills to have. I have also became a math tutor for my classmates. Being a tutor is very important to me because it allows me to share my knowledge and help
fraternity, I came up with an event called GoWest Goes Greek. GoWest Goes Greek was an event where I reached out to all social, art, music, and academic sororities/fraternities to come together and do a huge community service project. The project consisted of cleaning all the GoWest buses, to show them that as a campus we are grateful for the free services and all the disrespectful behaviors they have to encounter. To conclude just a glimpse of my service I have done for the community and campus, I would like to talk about one last experience that impacted people here in the community but also people internationally. I was Vice President for an organization called Rotract, which is an international volunteer organization. In my term of being VP my responsibility was to do a local and international fundraising event.
I believe I am a strong leader and I use my leadership abilities to improve the school as often as I possibly can. One of my strongest leadership skills is communication. I believe that it is vital to talk to others and get others input before making decisions. In the school, I ask other students their opinions on different events and I bring them back to the council frequently. Another leadership ability I possess is creativity. I always attempt to come up with creative and unique ideas to contribute to the council. For example, in meetings I always attempt to share new and different ideas to benefit the council. An important skill for leaders to possess is organization. I show this trait by using a binder to organize my agendas and showing up to every meeting.
At our pep rally we all just kind of stood in shock for a while, then the fun started. We all “moved up”, the freshmen walked over to the sophomore spot, the sophomores to the junior spot, the juniors to the senior spot, and the seniors just all walked out. It was a very eventful day and it probably could not have gone better. The biggest plot twist of all time happened, as well as the biggest drug addict and rudest person of Mount Juliet got arrested with two
A few weeks into my freshman year of high school, it was announced that class elections would take place at the beginning of October. The thought of running for student government had never crossed my mind, but I decided to run for freshman secretary on a whim. Running for office made me nervous; I thought student government was just a popularity contest. Like many other women, I felt less confident, despite my qualifications. Even though I was scared, I put my heart into the race, making posters, asking for petition signatures, and talking to my classmates. My efforts paid off: I won.
There were several other students who wanted to run for president, but none of had quite the propositions that I wanted to feed into the community. I actually wanted to create awareness of our environment and go into the elementary schools and encourage students to pursue careers in STEM. I am currently president of the society, and I am so grateful to have the ability to make difference in the society. The society will soon be hosting an Oxfam hunger dinner to inform the community of what it's like to eat in a developing country, and how lucky we are to be living in America and have the abundance of food that we have, unlike other countries. This hunger dinner will be my legacy to the society because no president before has conducted such an event that will educate our community and bring our school together. Hosting this event means a lot to me because as a woman, I am aware of how rare it is for me to take interest in something that relates to the STEM field. Despite the odds, I still stand firm in wanting to make a difference in my school before I
On Monday, April 17, the student activity council of Lester B. Pearson Collegiate Institute held a car wash at the school’s carpark. Teachers and students planned this event for over 2 weeks to raise money for their school to have better equipment for the gym facility and to have a better study-environment. Friends, family, neighbors, and the community came out of their home to support them on a holiday. Mr. Sigalas, Mr. Ming, and Ms. Yeung are the teachers who helped the students made the event happen. Ryan and Vincent are the leaders of the student activity council of the school. Both teachers and students worked really hard on that day to raise as much money they could for their school. “We’ve successfully collected more than C$1,200 for
This event was the Student Government elections held last year, my sophomore year. I had big plans. I wanted to be the Junior Class president. Being Junior Class president is a big responsibility due to prom, concessions and other fund raisers, but I wanted the position anyway. I knew I could handle it. My mom gave me a great idea for a theme that I would carry throughout my posters, my speech and my clothing attire on Election Day. I researched pictures I could put on posters. I bought stickers to hand out to people on election day that went along with my theme, which was "Bees". This went along with my last name, too. An example of one of my posters was "Heard the buzz? Andrea is running for class president!"
I never imagined being mayor by the age of seventeen, even if it was only for one week. The summer after my junior year of high school I was selected to attend ALA Virginia Girls State, an honorary program. Upon arriving I was bubbling with excitement knowing that this was my chance to do something big. That night we assembled within our cities to hold elections for city office positions. When the title of mayor was announced my hand shot up in the air before I could even think. It was as if something inside me was pushing me to dream bigger. Though it was overwhelming to run against girls who were just as driven and qualified for the position, I held my ground, having faith that this was what I was meant to do. My heart was beating out of
Besides academics, fine arts and sports in school, I have attained leading roles in different groups. This year, I am the Spirit Leader of Student Council encouraging monthly goals and themes and assisting in school events. From creating a student council with a group of peers three years ago we have had success in many events and have found new ways to spread spirit, gather important information and assist with financial groups. Recently, I stepped up to be the leader of the fundraising committee for our ...
I can remember a time when I so desperately wanted to win, but I didn't. My fourth grade class was having a spelling bee. Every student had to stand at the front of the room with his or her own mini chalkboard. When Mrs. Reed, my teacher, said a word, everyone had to spell it on their chalkboard at the same time. If you misspelled the word, you were forced to sit down at your desk and keep quiet. At first I did not see the enjoyment in the exercise. In fact, I can distinctly remember drawing on my chalkboard while my teacher explained the rules of the spelling bee. It wasn't until I heard the words "Tootsie Roll Pop" that I looked up and saw the bright red cherry Tootsie Roll Pop that would be given to the winner. In fourth grade there was little I would not do for a Tootsie Roll Pop. The spelling bee that was about to start all of a sudden became important too me. My hand was ready to spell out any word that came out of my teacher's mouth.