Student story: Extracurriculars that are leadership opportunities
About this video
A student describes being a backup quarterback for three years and learning that leadership doesn't need a title; it comes from passion. He led in practice and on the scout team, won a Journey Man of the Year award for leadership regardless of playing time, and turned the experience into a college essay.
You'll be able to
- explain how leadership can come from passion rather than a title.
- describe how a setback can become a strong story for a college essay.
Key words
- backup quarterback
- A player who doesn't usually start games and waits on the sidelines to play.
- scout team
- Players who practice the other team's plays to help the starters prepare.
- leadership
- Guiding, motivating and supporting others, with or without an official role.
Transcript
- One of the biggest extracurriculars for me was football. Football definitely challenged me in different ways but definitely helped me make a lot of relationships that I'll cherish for the rest of my life. Football challenged me in a couple ways, simply because I was a backup quarterback for three years, and for a while, it's daunting to not be on a playing field and seeing your teammates out there fighting for you and you're just being there on the sidelines.
What I learned from that was when there's a door that's closed, you just gotta open another one, and through that, I learned that leadership doesn't have to be a name. You don't have to be Mr. This This. It comes from within. Leadership comes from passion, and through that, I was able to lead my team into the sideline.
I was a leader in practice, on the scout team, and by the end of my senior year, I won a Journey Man Of the Year Award, which is given to the player on the team who best illuminated the leadership qualities of a leader, regardless of playing time, and through that, I was able to write another college essay of mine that definitely helped me get into a couple colleges because it really showed a different aspect of leadership that not a lot of people thought about.
Through that, I got a college essay, and it was a good life lesson. It's good to know that you don't have to be the boss.
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