Leadership is not limited to formal positions or titles. It can be demonstrated in our everyday actions and the impact we have on others. In my life, I strive to embody leadership qualities through the various roles and responsibilities I undertake. Whether it's guiding friends, supporting my boss at work, assisting in the local high school, or engaging in community service, I actively seek opportunities to make a positive difference. One of the ways I exemplify leadership is by assisting my friends with their college questions and concerns. Recognizing the importance of education, but also the pressure and anxieties that come along with it, I lend a helping hand whenever I can. Whether it's sharing resources, proofreading essays, or providing advice on the application process, I aim to alleviate their stress and guide them toward success. By offering support, I empower my friends to navigate the challenges of higher education with confidence and determination. In my professional life, I exhibit leadership by going above and beyond my job description. When my boss, who has been caring for her husband during a difficult time of multiple surgeries, needs to tend to her responsibilities of caretaking, I willingly step in. I take charge of opening and closing the store, ensuring smooth operations in her absence. By assuming these additional responsibilities, I demonstrate reliability, adaptability, and a commitment to the success of the business while doing what I can to help my boss out even a little in her struggles. Music has always held a special place in my heart, and I extend my leadership qualities to the world of music education. At my former high school, I volunteer my time during band camp to assist the new director, who is a college student finishing up his last few classes, in his first year of teaching. I provide guidance to students, share my insights and experiences, and help the director with any tasks he needs to be done. I also help the students one on one and offer them help whenever they require it-- musically or not. Through this support, I strive to create a nurturing environment for the band, foster a positive learning experience, and ensure a smooth transition for the new director. I believe in the power of giving back to the community, and I actively seek out opportunities for volunteer work. Whenever my schedule permits, I dedicate my free time to participating in community service initiatives. This ranges from being in the community service club in high school, helping to organize local clothing drives, or helping out the local high school's musical arts program. By engaging in community service, I hope to inspire others to join the cause, promote social responsibility, and create a sense of unity within the community. I firmly believe that leadership knows no boundaries and can be exemplified through any action, no matter how big or small. Through my dedication to trying to brighten up the lives of others and helping out where I am applicable, I can confidently say that I actively embody leadership qualities in my daily life. By stepping up, offering guidance, and making a positive difference, I strive to inspire others to follow suit and create a domino effect of leadership within not just my community, but any others that I may reach as well. No matter how big or small the action is, I believe any attempt at being a leader-- in any way-- is just one more step forward to make the world a better place.

Throughout my years in high school, I've decided to stick with doing tennis each season. It had become one of my passions and I decided to put in the time and effort to enhance my skills and be the best team captain I could be. However, unfortunately, not everything can and will always go according to plan. In the end, I clashed with a few people on the team and, unfortunately, let my emotions and temper get the best of me. There were times I could not help but make retort back at them-- which, in the end, made me feel even worse. Often, these encounters happened due to our differences. The players, although newer to the team than I, had many more years and much more experience-- more than I could ever begin to measure up to, is what I thought. This led to plenty of teasing or remarks about my skill level being less, despite being a captain. They would also often make fun of me for my sexual orientation, which would tend to strike much deeper than I imagine they thought it would. Despite these continuous run-ins, I eventually decided to just stick with one thing: to stop feeding into the negativity and be the team captain I wanted to be, rather than be controlled by my insecurities. Was it hard? It was. Was it something that I struggled with? Most definitely. But I decided on it and I wanted to fully follow through with it. Eventually, as practices and games went on, I would instead play along with their remarks and jokes. I did not want to fuel negativity that would only bring down not only myself but others on the team. Anytime I saw them make a good shot or a good serve, I would make it a point to encourage them and let them know that they were doing great. If nobody was watching their games while I was on a break from mine, I would try my best to watch theirs and let them know that I was supporting them between sets, or that they were doing a good job against their opponents, no matter which direction the game was going. Although it did not work out with one of the people, who eventually dropped the sport due to a lack of interest, I ended up forging a relationship with one of them. It may have been a bit rocky at first, but I came to learn that he had mainly done his remarks with the other teammate in an attempt to get along well with him. I don't blame him one bit. Although we do not talk often at all, it is still refreshing to be able to say hi to him every once in a while in the hall or if I run into him at the store now that the season has ended. We may be extremely different, but the kindness that I decided to try my best to execute helped make the season that much more enjoyable and refreshing. I can say with confidence that this has helped me forge not only a new way to solve problems healthily but also help me with myself and my self-esteem. It feels good to be the good you want to see in the world.

Although I had never really had any type of interest in tennis, I was convinced by a junior in my marching band class one day to join. I did not have much to do after school, and he insisted that they only needed one more female to have a complete team. Out of pure curiosity, I decided I may as well try it-- that it would not hurt to see what this unfamiliar sport would be like and how it would feel to play. I did not anticipate that it would lead to me spending so many hours not only trying to better my serves and backhands, but also the relationships with those around me. I began as a rather quiet student in my freshman year. The only real interest I had was playing my flute and maybe playing games sometimes. I was never a very physical person, especially for sports, due to my childhood asthma and weak physique. I wasn't confident I could do well in anything like that. I was more confident than anything that I simply couldn't. That is why I started unoptimistic about my first-ever tennis season. However, as time went on, I learned that I was not as bad as I imagined I would be-- this stemmed not only from the practices but my fellow players around me. They taught me that I was not someone incapable of doing the things I may have once considered. This, however, was just the start of how tennis began to shape my personality. Playing in doubles taught me that I could depend on others for help, as cheesy as it may sound. Having someone I could communicate with when I was in a bad spot was oddly symbolic of a real-world situation, and it even led to me coming out of my shell a bit in other scenarios. However, along with my teammates during the games, I learned to get along with other personalities on the team in general. As I played more often, I began to see that I didn't have to clash heads with people who may not have liked me, or vice versa. This became especially clear as I became a team captain in my senior year. I was not only afraid to encourage teammates who I may have not gotten along with as well as others but even my opponents during matches. I was taught that things did not always have to be so competitive as time went on. We are not always people competing against each other in this world-- in fact, we are just people. We are all the same, and I think it is a beautiful thing that I, surprisingly, was able to gather from a sport I originally just figured I would "test out." It became a seed of passion that helped me to grow and blossom many other traits and interests that could lead to me becoming who I am today. And, in the end, it has led to me hoping that I could inspire anybody who has been in or is in the same position as I was during the time I first began this unprecedented passion.

What could be viewed as a simple, childish film that had no deeper meaning than its face-value theme, Wall-E was automatically a movie that stuck with me as a child and has still influenced some of my views to this very day. Although it may seem like a simple message about saving our planet, I view it as a lot more; I view it as a film about the beauty of life, the beauty of what we can do if we truly work towards something. The two main characters, Wall-E and Eve, although extremely different in the understanding of their situations were brought together by a singular plant. That gorgeous curiosity clashed with an inherently straightforward mission, and I found it symbolic of us as humans and society in general when I was younger. Despite our obvious differences, I could find similar views or goals in mind with classmates or kids in the same neighborhood as me. Wall-E gave me that sense of comfort in approaching new people and new scenarios, just as the main character Wall-E did in the movie. I grew up as a relatively quiet kid, and I never really wanted to go out to meet new people. I didn't believe I needed to when I was already comfortable in my little bubble. However, just as the beginning of the film showed, it was a blissful unawareness of my surroundings and how I was living the same every day with little to no change. I needed to get out of my comfort zone, and in all honesty, I related myself to Wall-E a lot-- though childish in a way, it brought me that sense of bravery that I needed. That little push to put me out there. Not only did it help me to go out of my way to meet people, but I also went out of my way to be kinder to others. I would help other kids when they got hurt and tried my best to understand their emotions when they were upset. Seeing how the robots all worked together to free one another gave me a sense of wholeness when I thought about it in a way of them being me and my classmates-- how any of us could be any one of those characters, and how we shouldn't be shut out for our little "flaws" or "quirks." These differences in my behavior truly ended up in me being able to change myself. It helped me look at myself in the mirror and say, "I want to be like that." I wanted to be kinder. I wanted to be braver, just like my favorite character in my favorite film; and, in the end, I would say that I did a pretty alright job in expanding my horizons to relate to him. To this day, those tweaks in my personality have inspired me to become the person I am today. Even if I might be a bit of a skittish leader with a lot more to learn in this never-ending, evolving world, just like the protagonist, I would like to think I've still followed the exact path I set out for when I was younger-- a path to be more like my animated childhood hero.