Personal Essay: Lessons From Cross Country

I have best demonstrated my leadership ability on my schools track and field team. When I first joined the team my freshman year, I never thought I would develop a leadership role on the team. As a rookie to the sport, my only focus was performing my best and having fun; developing a leadership role never crossed my mind. It was my sophomore year that I developed a sense of leadership. As I was now a returner, I now

Participating in sports has taught me to be responsible for my own actions. Whenever I fail I move on and keep on trying. I’ve struggled but in the end I overcame most of the obstacles I faced.( I learn from my my mistakes )Flag football has taught me to become a leader, however, track and field taught me

I have learned a great many things from playing soccer. It has changed my entire outlook on and attitude toward life. Before my freshman year at Cool high school, I was shy, had low self-esteem and turned away from seemingly impossible challenges. Soccer has altered all of these qualities. On the first day of freshman practice, the team warmed up with a game of soccer. The players were split up and the game began. However, during the game, I noticed that I didn't' t run as hard as I could, nor did I try to evade my defender and get open. The fact of the matter is that I really did not want to receive the ball. I didn't' t want to be the one at fault if the play didn't' t succeed. I did not want the responsibility of helping the team

Alfreda was a first generation college student. She had a difficult academic experience being one of only four African American students majoring in animal science. She used her social life to help her cope with the experience. Alfreda mentioned Zinck 's night which is a campus tradition named after a bar keeper in Ithaca that owned a bar that was a haven for college students. Alfreda found no interest in this event, however, she did participate in Slope day because it was an opportunity for her and her friends to celebrate the last day of school. Instead of participating in the university-wide homecoming, she mentions a separate homecoming sponsored by a Black fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha and the Festival of Black Gospel. She states:

Throughout high school, I’ve been involved in multiple activities. As I began high school sports, I looked up to the upperclassmen and tried to be like them. As I grow older, I try to be a positive role model for the underclassmen, just as the students before me had done. I believe that being a positive influence on the ones that look up to you is a splendid aspect to have. As my senior year approached, I participated in volleyball for my fourth year. Throughout practice, I was sure to reach

Although I had only participated in the school Cross Country team for two years, I felt very connected to the team and wish I had participated my sophomore and freshmen year as well. Over the two seasons, I have made many great friends and learned the importance of working hard to achieve my goals. Throughout my life, my parents have pushed me academically, but never really encouraged me to try hard in sports or physical activities. Cross country filled that void for me and helped me become a more well-rounded person.

When I first joined cross country I was not fast nor a runner. I was one of the slowest people on the team, but I wanted to get faster and I was determined to improve. Some days we would do a hills workout and I would get to the top of the longest hill and think, “I could just run back to Armstrong right now and be done”. But then, I thought about how if I did another hill, I would get better and some time during a race when there was a big hill I would look at it like it’s nothing. I could go up the hill easily and pass a couple girls. So I would do another hill. Then the next time we did hills I rememberd how many I did the last time and pushed myself to do one more. Through that cross country showed me that I could be faster and tougher than I thought I was if I put in the effort and want it

When I first started thinking about college schools I never thought about going to MSU or Ole Miss. I wanted to go to the bigger universities, but I knew I wouldn’t do well if I went there my first year. My high school did not prepare me enough for University, and I hadn’t decided on a major either. I choose East Central Community College (ECCC) as the school I would go to for many reasons, and when I got here I knew I made the right choice.

I started out as a student-athlete in which I depicted great leadership skills and positive role model qualities such as diligence, enthusiasm, and passion for the sport. Hence, after my first year of college, I was named the team captain. I worked closely with the coaches, helped to resolve team conflicts, established the tone for practice, and modeled responsibility, decision-making, and a strong work ethic. I also promoted a positive attitude and team interactions, and encouraged and supported all of my teammates. Throughout my experience as team captain, I showed mental toughness by remaining confident and focus, and respond to individual and team mistakes in an appropriate manner.

I am sorry to inform you that I cannot work the Open House on Tuesday May 9th because I need to go to track and field practice because it is the day before a large meet for the team. On Wednesday May 10th, we have our League Championship race, which is very important to our team, and I would like to make sure I am ready to compete by going to practice the day prior. The Open House is from 5:30-7:30 (to my understanding) and my practice is from 5-7. I am sorry that this is close to last minute but our meet was abruptly changed to Wednesday by the host of the meets, so it was not our decision. I wouldn't have volunteered if I knew about this and I am sorry for the

A strong example of my leadership experience is my senior season of football. Following the 2016-2017 academic year, our head coach resigned on short notice and lacked any coach to fill the position. Because he left on such short notice, we didn’t have a coach for the first two weeks of the preseason, a crucial developing point in the season. However, a small group of other seniors and I were able to schedule workouts until we got a new coach. This established our group as team leaders and allowed us to lead the team to success in the regular season. I was later named a team captain for my leadership on and off the field. This gave me the ability further lead by example as well as keep the team’s morale up in the face of adversity. I ran extra

I enjoy underdog stories, fantasy/sci-fi (although I struggle with high tech stories), anything with odd/quirky/atypical characters, mythology, unlikely love stories, magical realism, and coming of age stuff. I can roll with either well-plotted stuff, or a looser narrative, but I like to have a goal in mind when I start something.

My personal experiences of leadership started when I was younger, roughly 7 years old, I was elected the captain of my travel soccer team. At the time I didn’t think much of it, nor did I have any extra duties that I was explicitly told that I needed to perform. Later throughout the season, I started to notice my teammates mimicking my styles and techniques and I highly enjoyed this feeling of being looked up to. I didn 't realize until years after that the recognition and pride I felt was leadership. This privilege of being captain was the first time I had realized that people weren 't necessarily following my actions because I was extraordinarily skilled, but because I provided this role model status with my confidence and encouragement. Some of the most valuable leaderships traits that I acquired and fortified are:

First, one way that being named a captain helped spark some personal growth was it made me do stuff I wasn't always comfortable doing. Sometimes they made me speak in front of the whole team. I do not know everyone on the team very well so it was a little nerve racking but I was able to get past that and talk in front of the team a lot. Another thing I wasn't really comfortable doing was waking up at 4:30 am. That was very difficult some mornings for me. I also had to get after people who were not doing what they were supposed to do. That was difficult for me when especially when it was one of my friends.

The Self Every situation that an individual is exposed to throughout life, helps mold our “self.” As humans we have the ability to see ourselves from the outside, and all through life we try to see what others see and our “self” revolves around the generalized other. We observe how others perceive us and we make conclusions depending on our observations. How we act around others depends on the image we feel they have towards us.