Megan Mehl
P2A: Leadership
Vision
Now
that I am away at college and virtually alone in the world, I realize that I am
the only person who is responsible for making my dreams come true. To do this, I must be a leader for the
benefit of myself and others. It is
important that I take the initiative to put myself on the path to achieving my
goals, but at the same time, I must not forget about my passion for
others. Therefore, many of my goals
center around becoming a role model to others and
helping others. I realize that my past
has determined who I am and has given me some clues as to what I hope to
achieve in my life.
One of the biggest influences on who I am today has
been my family. My family is a
very important part of my life and I do not know what I would do without them. I am certain that my passion for people arose
because of the love that I have received from my parents and sister. They have always been so supportive of me and
have helped me through many difficult times. 
I feel as if it is up to me to be all that I
can in order to make my parents proud.
They always seem to know what I am capable of, even if I do not. Though they have never pressured or pushed me
in any way, I always wish to please them. I know they would be extremely happy for me if
I were able to serve as a leader and accomplish my goals. I hope to one day
offer my children the same strong love that I have received from my parents. I also feel a strong desire to serve as a
role model for my younger sister, Kayla. Kayla and I have recently become much closer,
and I now see that over the years, we have formed a strong relationship. This past summer before I left for school,
she told me something very special. She
revealed to me, upon my solemn promise not to tell my mother, that she loves me
more than anyone else in the world. I
was shocked—after our almost incessant fighting while growing up, I never would
have believed that she could care so much about me. I consider this knowledge the most wonderful
gift I have ever received. As a result,
I made a personal vow never to disappoint her or serve as a bad example. Though I have not always been the best
daughter or sister, I certainly strive to be.
After moving away from my family, I have come to realize just how much
they mean to me. My desire to make my
family proud and repay them for everything they have given me is one of the
driving factors in my goal to be a leader in 
the
future.
I
have been fortunate enough in my past to have had several opportunities in
leadership training that further shaped my goals for the future. In high school, I took on a role as a leader
in the many service-based clubs with which I was involved. Working toward positive goals, I learned a
great deal about myself and others. To
tell the truth, it was not always fun cleaning up trash or working at school
functions, but I feel as if my contributions really made a difference in my
school and the community. In the end, the knowledge that I have helped someone
is worth more than payment I could have received for my work. I think it is
important for each of us to volunteer and make donations in order to help one another
out. Everyone has the opportunity to
serve as a leader by giving their time. Contributing
to a good cause earns respect and admiration from others, and helps inspire
them to follow the good example. I plan
to continue my service contributions here at UT by helping out with my
sorority’s philanthropy projects to benefit the Ronald McDonald House. I will never forget the way in which my high
school involvement opened my eyes to this amazing form of leadership.
My
experiences in student government organizations in high school have also given
me 
some
leadership training. I really enjoyed having
a say in some of the most important decisions being made at my school. The way
I see it, one can not complain about the circumstances if he or she does not
make an effort to change them. I hope to
become involved in a student organization at UT that can make a difference on
campus by addressing the concerns of the student body. Another aspect of my high school organizations
that I enjoyed was being put in charge of planning and organizing events. It is absolutely empowering to put on a
production: the moment when all the planning and work come together in the
final product creates an incredible sensation that cannot be described in
words. It is extremely rewarding to
serve as a leader in a way in which you can directly see the fruits of labor. My love for being in charge and executing
plans has made me consider career paths that involve organizing events, among
many other possibilities. I feel that it
is important to recognize that past experiences can play a very large part in
this way in determining long-term goals.
In
the long run, my most important goal is to attain the satisfying life that I
imagine in my dreams. In my head, I see
myself several years from now. I have a
successful career that I am passionate about and that allows me to interact
with many people on a daily basis. I have a wonderful marriage and live a
comfortable lifestyle. I am a role model
to others and have amazing relationships with my family and friends. It sometimes seems as if I will never reach
this level because I do not yet know how to go about achieving these
aspirations. I am not sure what my
career will be or what I will need to do to get there, and I will certainly not
be getting married any time soon. I
realize that it will take a great deal of work to get through school and establish
a career for myself; I must accomplish these daunting tasks by taking small
steps, where I would prefer to take leaps.
One
of these steps that I face in my pursuit of my ambitions is deciding what I
want to do about a job. I feel as if I
am not yet equipped to make a choice concerning my career path. I am currently one of the few students under
the unfortunate title “Undeclared.”
Sometimes, I feel pressured to make a decision regarding my future plans
because it seems as if everyone else already has their life mapped out. However, I realize that it is important to
take my time in order to make this vital decision. An obvious goal of mine is
to decide what I want my major to be and to transfer into the appropriate
school. In order to do this, it is
necessary for me to actively explore different career options by taking a
variety of different classes that interest me and to look for internship
opportunities so that I may make a well-informed decision on what to choose as
my major. I hope to decide to which
school I would like to transfer before my sophomore year. Once I have transferred to my school, I will
need to dedicate myself to doing well. John F. Kennedy once said that
“leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.”7 Therefore, if I want to accomplish my
goals and become a leader, I will need to work very hard to broaden my
knowledge in order to be successful. It
is important for me to focus on my studies and make good grades. I am willing to put all that I have into my
schoolwork so that I will be well prepared for my job.
Though
I am not exactly sure what I want to pursue as a career, it is my hope that I
will serve as a leader or role model to others in whatever I do. Even if I do not, I feel that I will have
succeeded if I am able to help someone in some way because people are my passion.
As Soren Kierkegaard
said, “The conclusions of passion are the only reliable ones.”8 In
other words, it is important to listen to your heart over anything else. Because of my love for people, I do not doubt
that whatever I decide to do should involve interacting with people in order to
make me happy. I have had thoughts about
opening a small business, perhaps a restaurant or a boutique. I realize that it is extremely difficult to
open a small business and keep it afloat, and that the odds will be against me. I will need to borrow a great deal of money
in order to rent a space, buy supplies, and hire employees. I will also need to find a loyal customer
base and attain a good reputation for my business in order to ensure that I
make a steady profit that will cover my expenses and pay back my loan. Opening a business will entail a great deal
of work and stress before my job will get any easier. However, if running a business is my goal at
that point in time, I will do whatever it takes to achieve it. Other areas that
interest me are public relations, advertising, and, as I already mentioned, some
sort of event planning. Each of these areas
will involve learning a great deal about people. I know that I can only find happiness in my
life and be a leader in the future if I am passionate about my career.
It
is also important for me to embody many qualities that are characteristic of
leadership if I hope to be a leader. These
traits include dedication, focus, perseverance, generosity, and strength of
character. Regardless of the shape my
future takes, these qualities will allow me to be the best person that I can be
and will lead me to my dreams. For
example, I strive to show dedication in all that I do. In the past, that meant contributing my time
to various student organizations and service clubs, as well as swimming and
school. Needless to say, I didn’t have
very much spare time on my hands. I
believe that it I very important to stand by what you care about and follow
through with your promises. If all the
members of the swim team had not been dedicated, our team would not have done
well at Regionals or gone to State. Similarly, it is important to stay dedicated
to one’s schoolwork in order to learn and to make good grades. I hope to prove to my professors that I am
dedicated to my schoolwork in the present and to show others that I am
dedicated to my career in the future. It
is also important to show dedication in one’s relationships with family,
friends, or their significant other.
Dedication in a relationship means keeping promises, maintaining trust,
looking out for one another, and making time for one another. Without dedication, it would be impossible
for one to reach his or her goals or serve as a leader. Focus and perseverance tie in with dedication
because it is important to keep focused on your goal and do whatever it takes
to achieve it. Generosity is another key
aspect of leadership because it means showing that you care about others by
helping them out. As I said, I hope to
continue helping others through community service throughout my life. I do not think that a person can be a leader
to others unless they care about others.
Strength of character is also very important, because I always strive to
be the best person that I can be, as I believe every leader should. I certainly do not always exhibit these
characteristics, but I feel that it is important for me to work toward them at
all times. If nothing else, I would love
to leave behind a legacy of leadership through these traits and gain the
respect of others.
In
order to be a leader, I must understand what a leader is. According to Harold
J. Seymour, “Leaders are the ones who keep faith with the past, keep step with
the present, and keep the promise to posterity.”9 It is amazing how
much this applies to me. To be a leader,
I need to use what I have learned in the past to work toward accomplishing my
goals in the present. I also need to strive to be a leader in the present by
staying involved in leadership organizations and by doing my best in school to
serve as a role model to my sister. If I
accomplish my goals, I will hopefully be a leader to others in the future.
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2,151
Words added: 423
Notes
1.
Picture is author’s own photo
2.
Picture is author’s own photo
3.
Picture is author’s own photo
4.
Picture is author’s own photo
5.
Picture is author’s own photo
6.
Picture is author’s own photo
7. Kennedy, John F. http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/3225.html.
8. Kierkegaard, Soren. http://www.josephsoninstitute.org/quotes/quotepassion.htm.
9. Seymour, Harold J.
http://www.worldofquotes.com/author/Harold-J.-Seymour/1/index.html.