If there's one thing I have learned during my two and a half years of high school, it's that joining an officer team truly enriches your experience in life. As the Beta president and UNICEF president-elect at my high school, I have learned so much from being a part of an officer team through my mistakes and successes. I've taken note of my experiences and chosen to move on rather than sitting in a corner, worrying about it. So, here are seven reasons why joining an officer team can truly enrich your experience in life!

1. Communicating well with your team members is vital.

From what I've learned, communication is extremely vital in a team. Whether you joke around with other officers or share a serious conversation about your plan for the year, it's all by communicating. Communicating with new people teaches you social skills that you can slowly embellish over time. In fact, once I became the president of the Northview Beta Club, I found myself becoming more bold and outgoing. I'm not as scared to speak in class, and I definitely do not have a problem talking in front of 400 people in the school auditorium.

2. People make mistakes that do result in consequences, but you shouldn't dwell on the past.

Making mistakes is a common part of your life. During the beginning of the school year, I made several mistakes, but no one yelled at me. Of course, I had a long conversation with my sponsor to figure out how to prevent these little things, but I eventually stopped making errors. Learning is always a part of life. If you make a mistake, take a moment to realize what you did and pick yourself back up. There's no point of worrying about the consequences of your error. Fix it and learn from it. Making mistakes is normal. If you don't make a mistake, are you really human?

3. Not everyone is or will be satisfied with what you do as an officer.

Everyone has their own opinion. There's always that one person who always thinks who what you did as an officer wasn't that great. In fact, recently, Northview Beta club hosted Stress Awareness Week, and I found out that someone cut one of the stress balls in half and left it in the boys' bathroom. It was truly insulting to find out about that; however, my officer team and I moved on. We knew there were people who made a mockery of our carefully-planned out week. But we also knew that there were many people who were excited to get the stress kits, see the puppies and get a stress ball. You may not be able to satisfy everyone, but you do know there are people who do appreciate what you do as an officer!

4. Procrastination can never exist.

If you procrastinate, you will seriously be in trouble. I personally have experienced that as an officer, and if you procrastinate, you don't have the chance to quickly finish your task. You may have to forget about it and think of it as an opportunity missed. It's quite unfortunate, but it's a great wake-up call to tell you that you can never procrastinate as an officer. There was a time when I did procrastinate on a task for a volunteer event, and I eventually ended up having to cancel the event altogether. I really regretted it, but I picked myself back up and told myself to never procrastinate ever again. Being an officer isn't the same thing as school. Procrastination does lead to drastic effects.

5. Friends and work must stay separate.

This is something I have learned recently. Many of my close friends are on the officer team, and there are times when I have to be strict with them. I can't joke with them. If you joke, you can't be taken seriously. I began to separate friends from work, and I found it truly beneficial. Of course, it's fun working with your friends, but there are times when you do have to drop that friend label and take out the boss label.

6. Sometimes, you need to take a break.

Breaks are essential. Recently, I've been so stressed that it resulted in me to talking more harshly with other officers. Obviously, it caused many hurt feelings so I began consulting my sponsor. She told me to take a break and that it is perfectly okay if you feel stressed. In fact, that's why sick days exist when you have jobs. People do need a day off, whether or not they are sick. That's why we sleep. Our brains need to rest from a full day of work.

7. Not everyone will be as hardworking as you— some may slack.

It's true. You can't expect everyone to do work. Of course, it's ideal. But it never works out. There are times when you have to push people to do their part of the work. This is where becoming authoritative comes into place. It's important to realize that people need to be told to do their work. In fact, as the Beta president, I'm currently facing a similar issue to this as well. There were several officers who I believed had the capability to do more work. So, I confronted them and talked with them about how they need to step up and start doing some more work. Now, they're working as hard as ever!