What it Takes to be a Student Leader

When I first got the call that I had been accepted into the Student Leader program, I jumped up and down in my kitchen and told the lady in charge of my market "Ohmygoodness THANK you! I'm so excited! PRAISE THE LORD."

Looking back, I think I was pretty shocked that I had actually made it in. The teacher who had suggested that I apply told me that it was VERY competitive and I might not make it, but to give it my very best shot.

Making it into the program was a dream come true! I've never done something like this before and it's a brand new experience that I'm thrilled to get under my belt.

I don't go to a competitive private school that will make college admission officers swoon. I don't do 2000+ hours of community service. I'm not athletic or musical. I don't have a 4.0.

At the orientation for the St. Louis market, we were asked "Why do you think we were chosen?"

I was the first to respond and the pressure was on. Hundreds of thoughts were racing through my mind.

"Why was I chosen? .... um...."

I desperately wished that I could string together something substantial. Instead, I went for the cop-out and gave a quick explanation about my work teaching English in a third world country.

Although my summer in Peru working in orphanages was an incredible experience, mentally, I knew that's not why I was chosen.

I don't have a 4.0. I don't participate in many extra-curricular activities. But there is one thing that separates me.

I have passion. Fiery, red-hot passion. I care about what I do and I do it well. In my application, I spoke about my passion for the human trafficking issue. I wrote about how outraged I was that 80% of the country doesn't know anything about it and how insane it was that there are more humans enslaved today that at any other point in human history. I spoke about my undying love for mock trial, and how I know, deep-down, that my calling is in the legal field, defending those who can't defend themselves.

I spoke about how much I love debating and how I went to gifted education centers for elementary school students and shared my passion with them by giving week-long seminars.

I spoke about how much I love creativity and art and how my passion drove me to create a camp for little kids centered around art projects in order to raise money for Peruvian orphanages, so that they could create art too.

I spoke about how much I admired Harriet Beecher Stowe, and how she used media to move a nation and direct them to the slavery issue and how I hoped to do the same. I spoke about the one-person play I wrote about Harriet and how that play took me to nationals in the National History Day competition.

I've never been bored. I've always done SOMETHING with my time. I'm very unorthodox.

I like to lead.

Bank of America Student Leaders don't necessarily have a 4.0 GPA. That's not what the program is about.

The program is about finding students with passion. Students that care about society and want to make it a better place.

I'm futuristic. I'm a visionary. I have passion. I want to lead.

That's what it takes to be a Student Leader.