The fourth quarter of my junior year had arrived, and the Shakespeare cast had gone into overdrive in the effort to pull off our production of Twelfth Night. Now began the time when everything started to fall apart. Several actors did not have their lines memorized yet, it was unclear what we would have to do to comply with COVID protocols, and above all, a large percentage of the cast was simultaneously involved in track and field and stressing about finals. During tech week, a senior even dropped his saxophone, which made it necessary for the actor in charge of the band to call in a favor and borrow another. As anyone who has been involved in theater can attest, tech week is the time when tempers flare and grudges form. It was no different with us. Several actors, many of them seniors, were very put out by various things and refused to move past their perceived slights: the senior girls were angry at those who had not memorized their lines or who were frequently disruptive during rehearsal; the guilty actors felt unjustly accused and resentful. I was close enough with all the cast members that I could do at least some damage control. I took several deep breaths, steeled myself to hear everyone talking bad privately about everyone else, and did what I could for the show to go on. I listened to the senior girls' gripes and sympathized while gently trying to help them see from the culprits' perspective. I listened to the disruptive ones (mostly boys) alternately laugh at or complain about the senior girls and acknowledged that while the girls were probably overreacting, their complaints were still valid. Above all, at every opportunity, I tried to charitably nudge everyone to work a little harder and give a little more. As per usual, the show did go on and it was fantastic. What did I learn from that experience? Good leadership will always have to involve dealing with people being petty and slacking. Many times, true leaders will never be thanked for what they do, either. To be a leader, one must be willing to renew her efforts on a daily basis to accomplish what has to be done, regardless of snarky comments; she has to accept that never will everyone like or appreciate any one decision or even person all the time. But if someone does not step up, take the heat, and kindly lead others to a consensus, nothing will get done. Will everyone realize the value of what that leader did? No. But someone has to do it. I realized that that will never change. I will graduate high school this year and go on to college, then beyond. There will always be situations in which groups of people have to accomplish a task without much accountability. Whenever this occurs, someone will have to stand up, encourage the others, and be willing to be disliked at times as she urges the others to give more. I hope that I will always be that person.

I have fallen in love with the most hated of high school subjects: math. After taking honors calculus my junior year, I decided to pursue a bachelor's degree in mathematics. I intend to spend my senior year of high school doing everything I can to realize this dream: apply to colleges with strong math programs and for as many scholarships as I can to help me pay for the degree of my dreams. If I get into a college I want to attend and can afford it, I will pour my heart into learning everything the professors have to teach me. I intend to intern as early and as much as possible to procure the hands-on experience I will need to achieve my ultimate goal: teaching. I aspire to be a high school teacher because I have witnessed the enormous impact one good teacher can have on his or her students; I have been fortunate enough to have several truly remarkable math teachers throughout middle and high school. In eighth grade, our teacher went out of his way to develop personal relationships with all his students and make the class come alive with jokes and games. We loved algebra because we loved him. Geometry freshman year was even better: I still remember his impassioned declarations about how awesome vertical angles are every time I see them. Although at first I would have said I liked math class because of him, he paved the way for me to love math for its own sake and to desire to pass on that love to other students. Calculus sealed the deal for me. My teacher made derivatives and integrals come alive. He also encouraged me to pursue my dreams and a degree in math and assured me that it was by far the best thing to study. He was the one who advised me to seek out internships in college and to apply for as many scholarships as possible. If I realize my dreams and become a math teacher, I aim to be a great one. In time, I hope that students will learn to love math because of my influence. I truly believe that if all students had teachers as great as I have had, math would not be the subject that people dread. Society needs members that know math, math is the language of science and engineering, and if I can touch the life of even one student so that she, too, decides to pursue a degree in STEM, I will have accomplished my goal.