Being a first generation American always has challenges, one of them being having to grow up faster and learning to do things on your own. In 2012 my mom recently went through a divorce, she was not only struggling with being an immigrant in the US, but now she had to find a job to help support her and her three children and fight for custody for my sisters and I. It was a huge change for everyone in my family. I learned that since I'm the oldest, I had to step it up to help my family, even though I was only just 8 years old. My idea of leadership is being able to inspire others, motivate , and communicate. I believe that good leaders are are made rather, and not born. My mom inspired me to always lead and be a good example for my 2 younger sisters. Every day I learn more and more ways to be a better leader by just living with them. I started off by being a good student in school, being apart of the student council , tutoring my sisters in subjects they needed help on, I spent my lunch time playing with the special needs preschoolers and built strong bonds, and stayed after school to make posters for my school, this was all just in elementary school. In junior high I joined the color guard team and was apart of the leadership program in my school. When I first joined color guard I always practiced more after my after school practices. I would also stay after school to help my leadership group plan school activities. I became the team captain my 8th grade year! When I became the team captain, that was another step into strengthening my skills. Now not only am I a leader to my siblings, I now became a leader of a team with about 30 people. I started noticing that I was becoming a leader in class too, in group projects, trying to help my peers if I saw them struggling, and became really involved in school. I gained so much skills like, communication, organization, seeking out solutions to problems, and always maintaining a positive attitude. In high school I took another big step in bettering my leadership skills, I joined a lot of clubs and joined the color guard team my sophomore year! My coaches would pull me aside and tell me to try out for leadership the upcoming year, and that's what I did. I became one of the captains my junior year, I was the only junior leader! I also became president of my environmental club. Now that my junior year is over, I can definitely say that each year I keep gaining more and more skills. I use those skills at home, when I'm volunteering, at school, and in my team. My younger sister just started junior high last year and joined the color guard team, not only did I inspire her to join but she'll be the head captain as well!! Going into my senior year I will also be head captain and I can't wait to give her advice as she follows though my steps of becoming a great leader.