Sports teams, corporate companies, military squads, and even our community in terms of democracy, all require some version of teamwork to achieve their various goals. For a team to achieve its goals or ambitions in the most effective way possible, there must be some form of discipline and commitment. Oftentimes, the path that must be trekked to reach success is followed behind a leader who looks out for those behind him. A great leader is also willing to go to the back of the caravan to encourage those falling behind the rest to keep pushing as well. With these excellent qualities in mind, how do I mirror them in my own life? On many occasions, I have taken the initiative or been elected to be the leader when no one else is eager to step forward. For example, ever since last year, my junior year of high school, I have been the team captain for my school’s lacrosse team. Last year was a tough season with many new and young players joining the force and few older boys to instruct them. With the new title of captain, I took on the task of acting as an assistant coach to our head coach, a senior’s father. As a player myself, I was able to connect and see things that the coaches did not and teach my fellow players how to fix their actions. Within the focal point of our season, I am in the midst of guiding our barely constructed team to a successful organization. The main obstacle that the entire team had to trek through was finding a new coach to direct us since the old coach left with his son, along with the assistant coaches. Managing to obtain a coach less than a month before the start of our season was only the first barrier we climbed over, with many more in the foreseeable future. Taken as a leader by our new coach, and the recently introduced players to the team, I began to immediately thrive in this environment. With experience as a captain for both our school’s soccer and lacrosse teams, it has allowed me to easily educate our past and new players. Not only was I able to offer my knowledge of the sport, but they also gave me valuable lessons on how to treat and gain respect from each individual. Guiding construction projects in Chelsea, Massachusetts and Greenville, Tennessee, has taught me how to see and face problems in our practices and games. Finding the path that we must take to fix the issues, similar to what must be done during such projects, is a prime characteristic of someone to get behind. As well as being our school’s Key Club treasurer and National Honors Society secretary, it empowers me to know the responsibility it takes to be in and lead an organization through thick and thin. I believe that taking criticism and attempting to make myself a better person with it has proved to make me a great leader in many people’s eyes. The self-control that it requires to intake any form of criticism allows any natural-born leader to shine through the dust of failures. When a group project for school, drill for lacrosse, or task comes up at work, I am often looked to for advice and to lead by example. Often working through questions and problems with the group or team, my goal is to always get everyone through the finish line, as a great leader should do.

For the past two years, I have worked with a local church to visit and give aid to communities other than our own. Grace Church Bethlehem conducts a yearly mission trip for high schoolers who desire to help others than themselves in different locations each year. This past year, we visited another church in Chelsea, Massachusetts to give them the jump start they needed for construction in their church. The first step into the church, we were immediately welcomed and told how glad the community was for us coming. With several church services being conducted every day, it was difficult to have the time for workers to come in and complete the required construction. The help we were there to give was available at any time due to sleeping in rooms up and downstairs, making it easy for the work to get done. Throughout the week and completion of the tasks, we were constantly thanked by the members of the church with cooked food and invitations to come to their services. While mostly standing through the services, the experience was different compared to what I was used to. While it was slightly difficult because of the community being mostly Spanish speaking, they brought in translators just for us to be able to worship God with them. It was interesting for me to go through the service, all the time wondering how many different ways worshiping the Lord is done throughout our country. I hope to one day travel the country and experience different methods of worship in churches everywhere. Along with the general work like demolition and construction we traveled there to help with, we spent time with the local community. By going out on the playground next to the church and playing with the children, or walking around town talking to the people of the city, we lightened their days. The games on the playground included soccer, ‘grounders,’ and freeze tag, all chosen by the eager kids who saw us playing. The excitement in their eyes to play these games was something I was endlessly glad to see. The feeling I received from these happy children was what I was seeking to find on this past years mission trip, and it was gladly found. On the trip up to Chelsea, I learned something about myself. The desire to help others and the great feeling I get once the task is completed was something I loved feeling. The community we impacted with our volunteering was endlessly thankful and reminded us through the week that we represented God’s work. This is something I was to keep experiencing my whole life because it is a feeling like no other.