Here's my application essay for the Emerging Leader Alumni Scholarship. The prompt is 'Describe how you have developed as a leader to this point. Describe the changes in your philosophy, attitude and abilities. Highlight specific activities that have led to your current level of leadership.'

So naturally, it's my goal in this essay to look like as much as a Leader as my activities could possibly allow. So don't roll your eyes.

LEAAAAADDDDDDDERRRRRRR!

Leadership and all

Cal is absolutely full to the brim with leaders. Or at least it is in the applications: not many students can get in without a stint presiding over a Boy Scout Troop, or Captaining a soccer team, or presiding over the local Engineering club. And yet a strange thing happens as soon as they arrive at UC Berkeley; these High School leaders fade away into the great mass of students, never seeking to make their mark in leadership ever again. Perhaps this is because High School is about Leading for Yourself; adding a chit to the resume and pulling ahead on the college path. College Leadership, on the other hand, is not a career path or a must-do for future accomplishments.

Certainly I was more then a little like a High School Leader myself. At Foothill High I was the Leader of my local Literary Magazine, my Boy Scout Troop, and an Officer in the Junior State of America organization. But in my first four months at Berkeley, my leadership goals ranged no higher then perhaps editing the Heuristic Squelch some day and doing some freelance writing around campus.

But in late November, I was invited to join the young APPLE party, one of the ASUC's smaller political organizations. At the first meeting I was introduced to a group of people who understood-- or at least understood more then me-- what the purpose of College Leadership truly was. These were Senators and Club Presidents, Editors-in-Chief and Chiefs of Staff. At the time I was more impressed by the level of authority. Regardless, I became involved in ASUC politics, a path that would introduce me to many campus leaders-- and teach me how and why to become one myself. My first job was Publicity Director for the APPLE Party, a task that had me creating signs and literature for our Senate Candidates, future leaders themselves.

Along the line I met the new Academic Affairs VP, Catherine Ahn. Impressed with my hard work with APPLE, she recruited me for my first Leadership role on campus: Director of Cal-FACTS. Cal-FACTS (www.calfacts.org) is the ASUC's class evaluation service, a complicated job that involves a lot of manual labor and scut work. Not only that, but the program's mismanagement the semester prior had culminated in the AAVP's resignation. It paid abysmally, the work was mostly boring, but I took the job. Partly due to the old ambition to rise higher, but also for a new reason : leadership for the sake of the job and for those led. Cal-FACTS was a good program for students with lots of promise; I thought I could fulfill that promise.

Once I made the crucial leap to Leading for reasons other then personal ones, the rest came much more easily. I played first to my interests, then to my strengths, in looking at what I wanted to do. The first implied politics and humor, the second was writing. I was already on the staff of the Heuristic Squelch, but stepped up my level of submissions and was appointed Design Editor for my Sophomore year. When the year began I was recruited for the Berkeley Political Review, a first year publication, by a friend. With so much writing to do, and under the influence of good Editors, I quickly improved to a dependable writer, and became part of the Editorial Staff on both publications.

At Cal-FACTS, I ran a staff of five interns, and managed to retain all of mine until near the end of the year. The work was long and often lonely, so my strategy was to reward them as much as possible and develop a sort of espirit de corps. Towards this end, I gave my interns half of my stipend, set up speakers at my own expense, and made sure to always be there as much as possible. I considered the work to be important and necessary, and that was what I tried to impress on my interns. At the same time, I groomed two of my hardest workers as possible Successors, in order to avoid the problem of 'no prior experience' that I had to grope with. It was a good experience for all involved: I learned how to motivate, focus my people on their tasks, and manage a project.

As a sort of culmination to my love of politics and writing, I combined the two in a semi-journalistic website called Calstuff. (calstuff.blogspot.com) The goal for the website was to provide a running commentary and news coverage of the Berkeley campus, but I gradually evolved a new goal: to create the first entirely original news source at Berkeley in decades. Towards that end, I encouraged or recruited eighteen other students to set up their own 'blogs' focusing on Berkeley, and recruited three students from varied walks of life to work on mine, as well.

Meanwhile, my work and leadership abilities were beginning to move me into higher offices. I became Signatory of the Squelch Party, and ran for AAVP under their ticket. My platform was the same goals I had emphasized as Cal-FACTS Director: hard work and service to students. I received the Daily Cal's endorsement for the position, and received 1200 votes despite spending most of the campaign helping APPLE's Senate and Executive Candidates. I was also elevated to International Editor for the Berkeley Political Review and Creative Editor of the Squelch, both Senior Editorial positions. This was ideal work for my abilities, as it would put me in a position to train young writers much like I was once trained. Finally, I decided to become Rush Chair for my Fraternity, figuring that since I'll be recruiting for three Literary publications it made sense to be the recruiter for a Literary Fraternity.

I can't claim a large change in my abilities or philosophy since I came to Cal. My motives have changed a good bit, and my leadership skills are somewhat more developed, and I'm probably better at writing and hard work since I came here. But perhaps the reason I've come so far is that I believe I can consistently work, lead, and encourage others for two years to come. I'm excited about recruiting for my publications, now that I have the opportunity to, excited about being in a great position for my level of interests and abilities. Most of all, I'm excited about being a Leader on this campus, with the chance to work with friends and interns to create great things for Berkeley. It is this enthusiasm about the work and the jobs that makes me feel I will continue to be a leader on this campus, and one that will make Berkeley better.

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