For Most Of My High School Career Chosen To Be A Part Of

Booker T. Washington once said, “Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.” In 1776, by David McCullough, this quote truly resonates the fact that it is the little things that count, as not necessarily the big picture. Although there are many pitfalls the Americans go through during the course of this story, the outcome of the war would be a positive success to the Americans. As a result, good leadership is a very important factor in accomplishing a goal. Also, encouragement is a big help when it comes to boosting a soldier’s morale. Furthermore, endurance is vital to an army

The book Black Hearts opened my eyes to how leadership from a single Officer can have a grappling effect on such a wide range of soldiers from the lowest of ranks. One of the best takeaways from Black Hearts is to never do anything: illegal, unethical, or immoral. Although this is a easy statement to repeat, Black Hearts demonstrates the difficulties that lie behind these words. It has also painted a picture of how leadership can topple extremely quickly from a top down view. The Army is portrayed in a bad light throughout the book relentlessly. This is due to the concentration of poor leadership of the 1-502nd Regiment (Referred to as “First Strike”), a battalion of the 101st Airborne Division.

A leader unwilling to sacrifice individual goals for the good of the unit cannot convince other unit members to do so. The mission suffers with potentially devastating effects. While personal goals often coincide with Army goals, there is no room for personal agendas at the expense of the institution or the American people. It is a standard in the hierarchy of military customs and courtesies that the leader must display to his subordinates that he is willing to put in extra effort, sacrifice personal time, and show initiative and motivation in order to achieve the same from his Soldiers.

Leadership goals should always contain methods of a continuous process of learning through education, training, and individual experiences that help ensure that the message will be communicated in a confident and competent manner when leading troops. Soldiers tend to follow leaders that demonstrate and live the Army values, while displaying their confidence in every decision that affects change. Leaders are not born as organizational or tactical leaders; but grown by their genetic determinism, which is inside and the characteristics they work toward; that mold is which type leader they will become. Not just anyone can lead; you must have the desire to lead, be willing to make the commitment to being a leader, and prepare yourself properly, then you have the desire to become a leader. (Fulton, 1995).

My junior year of high school I auditioned and became a drum major. This means that I am one of the leaders of the band, and my voice is one of the ones that needs to be heard. My voice, however, cannot overpower the others involved in the band. Marching band has taught me leadership skills in which that I can now have

This has kept me out of many of the elected leadership positions in our school. However, there are many other ways that I exemplify my role as a leader. One of these ways is by being a part of athletics. I have always felt like a leader in this environment, as I have always exceeded at sports. As an underclassman, I would be the one who helped out with cleaning up, and pushed my teammates to get better. Being apart of these smaller groups allows me to feel more comfortable when leading others. I also lead the team to getting better by helping to set up practices when the coaches were not allowed to coach in the off season. This made me a better leader in everyday life as I am now a more active leader. I lead in group projects, telling people what needs to be done and when. I make sure people are on track, and do not act out. Despite not being a leader to the many, I have still been able to make a big difference by being a leader in my everyday life as an athlete and a

Trying to find balance between those two, maintaining my ability to perform and lead others, and effectively getting things done was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in life. Having the pressure put on myself daily gave me insight into the future. Through the small productive task the band was taking daily I could see problem spots or potential unproductive actions quickly and maintain progress. At home, when practice was over, I would research, study, and read all about leadership skills as well as personal relations. I learned from many of peers that a leader even with great skill will accomplish nothing if they don’t learn to respect, inspire, and influence those around them. Having the built reference experiences and seeing many different approaches of leadership I cherished every single principal I was able to learn. In the end, I did not become the perfect leader or the leader with the most talent, but I was able to empower my peers to push through the pain of the season and influence them to stick to the repetition need to build a great skill. The band finished third place overall becoming bronze medalist in Class 5A but won first place in the music category. This is the best the band has ever been and the highest place the band has finished in. My hopes and dreams for the members in band after this year is to continue to grow and perform to the best of their ability. I valued everything I was able to take

At Boys State, I learned that I may need to assume a position of power if I am the most qualified. For various reasons, marching was integral to the operation of Boys State. However, almost all the citizens had never marched before. Even though my previous experience as a marching band member conflicted slightly in style, I still had an advantage. When I noticed dozens of my peers struggling to learn marching, I viewed it as my duty and obligation to help them and provide strong leadership to maintain a cohesive marching bloc. I did, however, need to overcome the barrier that was my previous marching experience. I trained in a different leg style, so I needed to speedily learn the nuances of this foreign style. From this, I learned volumes about leadership. I learned that there is a place and time for me to serve as a leader; I learned that occasionally the most qualified leaders aren’t necessarily fully qualified, and to respect their efforts to become qualified; I learned that all leaders must overcome challenges to be successful. This trying experience taught me how and when to assume a position of power for the benefit of the

About three weeks into marching season, a spot opened up. Of course, I had to audition for the spot with the other alternates, but I was successful in winning a marching spot at that time and have never lost it. I also worked hard on becoming a better musician. I drastically increased my practice time and was fortunate enough to be able to hire a private tutor to improve my musical abilities. Now in my senior year I am in the top band and I am on the varsity marching squad. I have even obtained a leadership role in the band as a rank leader. As a rank leader I am a mentor and coach for several other students in the marching band. I really feel like I am providing these student the same thing that Zack Santos provided for me. It makes me feel good that I am assisting other kids in achieving their

Being an older sister, friend, and active student in and out of the classroom, I’ve oftentimes been the person that others look up to for advice or ideas. One specific area that I am a leader in is the Cherokee Art Club. This year I was named group leader, which is a person that guides fellow club members by giving them directions, providing support and encouragement, and making sure that everything is going as planned. I was appointed to this position because of my dedication and effective leadership skills last year. Because of all the clubs and activities I’ve been apart of, I became a very confident and effective leader. Even though it wasn’t an easy feat, it is extremely valuable thing to offer to the world and to the National Honor

One of the reasons I am going for Drum Major this year is because of the growth that I have seen from the current DM’s throughout their high school careers. I met Emma, Madeline, and Tabby as a freshman and seeing how much they would mature to become strong, independent leaders is something I never initially expected. The personal growth that one gains from leadership is one of the reasons why I believe everyone should experience a leader position at least once in their lifetime. From my year as Drill Instructor, I was able to learn quite an impressive amount, however I believe that I still have quite a ways to go before I am satisfied with my skills as a leader. One of my aspirations is to become a Doctor and have the opportunity to help those

In my school’s marching band, I had spent the entirety of my high school year hoping to be granted the prestigious position as Drum Major, and many people stated that I would be the best fit for the position. Due to all of the positive feedback I received in regards to becoming the Drum Major, I felt as though I had a great chance at earning this title. Unfortunately, this long lasting dream of mine was shattered when I failed to acquire the position. Though defeated, I did not let this failure take hold of my passion for music and my desire to be a leader. During summer practices, I consistently showed my talents, and I made it a point to show my band director just how abled I am to have a leadership position. Come the end of band camp, I

I learned from many of my peers that a leader will accomplish nothing if they don’t learn to respect and influence those around them. In the end, I did not become a perfect leader or the leader with the most talent, but I was able to empower my peers to push through the pain of the season and influence them to stick to the repetition needed to build great skill. I now realize that the effort I gave wasn’t for my own personal benefit, but was made in hopes that I could instill what I’ve learned to the youth of the band. My hopes and dreams for the younger band members is to continue to grow and perform to the best of their

Pulaski High School has a small marching band; it includes all high schoolers that want to join. There are 100 people in it and we go to Washington D.C every 4 years to represent New York in the national Independence Day parade. Our marching band has two directors, one is Mr. Jennings, and the other is Mr. Whaley. They are both extremely passionate about marching band. In June 2014 we started to train for our trip to Washington. The upperclassmen were particularly harsh this year. They kept repeating statements of how important this parade was and they looked very nervous. I thought nothing of it because we go to the Sherburne

The following years really put my belief of not letting outside influences persuade me away from what I loved to the test. Accepting an answer that you don’t necessarily like is much less involved than having to step up and say, “No, I deserve this. I’ve earned it.” This proved to be true when I transferred to Satellite High School. Satellite was known for their enhanced musical education programs. Although I didn’t know it at the time, it was the people telling me that I would never amount to anything in their top orchestra that really pushed me to find a way to put myself in the first chair seat. Landing last chair my sophomore year was hard to come to terms with. Stepping back to look at the big picture of the situation helped me recognize that it didn’t matter who was going to stand behind me as I tried to work my up through the seats within my little section. The only thing I needed to focus on was who was going to put up a fight as I challenged them for their seat. Most people were rather lackadaisical about their music, and moving up through the section wasn’t too difficult. Looking into the faces of everybody that told me I couldn’t, yet watched me get closer to my dream was satisfying.