Leadership in School, Application Essay Example

Leadership is for the resilient and not for the faint of heart. The same has been learned in the critics that I’ve experienced inside and outside my school life. Sometimes, what makes an individual’s leadership more complicated is their position in the school or group and what type of leadership style they intend to employ. Despite having a defined goal that guides an individual, the leadership dynamics that exist include harmonizing the interest of all members in an instance that you are a leader of a group. If I could go back and forth in time, I would go to a time when I was a class representative. The study discusses the experiences and lessons that I learned as a leader at that early age.

The most significant encountered was that of kick-starting the leadership of my class. The challenge was not easy to resolve at the beginning because of the following. I experienced that I seemed not to be aware of what the students needed because I was a first-time leader. I had to come up with ways to become more approachable and visible to them so that they were comfortable to relay their concerns. This step involved collecting emails contacts of all my classmates, where I could send emails of communications to their emails. I created a Facebook and a WhatsApp group where individuals would view posts and even relay ideas, concerns, or even issues. I also held a class rep hour at the start to communicate my vision for leading the class and ideas on how we could work as a team.

The second challenge encountered was solving an attendance situation for one individual student whose schedule differed from that of other class members. The student had to drive to a different town daily after school. This required that I request to change the class schedule that could affect the other class members. I handled the matter by arranging for a meeting with the other class members to discuss the issue and come to a consensus before approaching the teacher who was handling that specific topic. The challenge with the meeting was that everyone had a diverse opinion and approach; this required that we harmonize specific solutions and vote on them. Eventually, we agreed that pushing the class was convenient and workable for all the class members however there was a need to get approval of such a move by the teacher. This was sorted out eventually as he approved the motion and commended my efforts in promoting group cohesion and problem-solving in the class.

The last challenge that I encountered that helped me learn was assisting the class members in adapting to change. Since schools at times have different teaching styles, I was tasked with creating groups that would be used for discussions of class assignments in the class setting. The challenge experienced was the merging of the groups according to ability, intellect, and personality, as there are people who would find it hard to work together in the same group. I started by communicating the change intended to be made; I chose a group of individuals who would assist me with the brainstorming of the task, after which I relayed the formed groups to the class members for their feedback and correction. With the corrected list that was harmonized, I moved ahead to seek the principal’s approval as requested. The groups made the group work approach the best in tackling assignments, and these groups also became personal groups for class discussions.

In conclusion, if I would go back in time, the experiences as a leader are the ones that I would go back to because they have also molded me into the individual I am today. The lessons learned in the experience enabled me to acquire other leadership positions in many other forums, and they also helped me know how to relate with people.