the dreaded scholarship essay wasn't so bad

below is the first of many essays I will be writing in the hopes of receiving scholarships. this last one was for the TD Canada Trust Community Leadership Scholarship. I actually ended up liking it, but the application has yet to be submitted. I really hope this wasn't a waste of my time! *sigh*

It began during an eighth grade oral presentation – that is, my love for young activist and founder of Free the Children, Craig Kielburger. The assignment was to choose an activist, take on his or her role and create a sort of treasury of important, symbolic items representing that person. One of these objects was a hand-made torch. As I spoke in front of my classmates, I felt my own passion overtaking the theatrical energy I embraced for the role. I found that I believed every word I was saying; that is was POSSIBLE to change the world; that ONE person can trigger a wave of community interest and global involvement; that WE are the generation we have been waiting for. It was that day Craig passed a torch onto me, and I am proud to say that I gladly took it in my hands. I was ready to make my mark, and I knew that day was only the beginning.

Currently in my final year at Sinclair Secondary School, I have since become a returning, active member of community-based groups such as Youth in Action and Model United Nations. We have hosted guest speakers such as Stephen Lewis and Free the Children, organized fundraisers for schools in Africa and the underprivileged in our own community. I have also personally taken charge of an awareness campaign that has met great success. It was, however, only in my third year that I became a member of the group that has enormously changed not only my life, but the lives of nearly one hundred others as well; this group is the Sinclair Leadership Camp Committee.

I had never put so much of my time and effort into an extra-curricular before. I was put in charge – only a couple of months before Camp began – of constructing an active workshop for the students who were chosen to attend. Using skills and strategies I had learned from retreats and acquired over the years, I taught my peers familiarity, confidence and most importantly, trust. I used games and activities to create the perfect environment for teamwork, giving students the opportunity to step up and discover their potential as leaders. As founding members, our goal was to create a smooth, fun and character-building leadership camp for our peers, and I’m proud to say that we more than succeeded. Students approached us in the hallways as the school year ended saying that it was the best camp experience they had ever had. They wanted to know how they might be part of the Committee next year. I speak for our entire 2009 Committee when I say that these comments will stay with us forever.

In celebration of our achievement last year, our mission statement rests proudly on the wall of our workroom: “Working Together to Lead and Inspire Potential Leaders of Today for Tomorrow.” To be honest, I think it is more than just a string of words for Committee Members. Those words are a reminder of our ongoing goal to reach out to the students at Sinclair Secondary, and by doing so, the community in the process. These students, in the long term, WILL be the leaders of tomorrow. THEY will sit on the Committee in years to come, volunteer at a soup kitchen, and maybe even travel overseas. SLC helps to foster the growth of leadership skills so that students can recognize that, like Craig Kielburger, they can make a difference in the world – and it starts with empowering youth and the local community.