From the time I entered Rowan, my goal has been to become a leader. Whether a leader of a club, or a Fortune 500, I always dreamed of being a leader. Now that I am in my senior year, I have held and currently hold several leadership positions. However, as I finish the first month of my senior year, I finally consider the question, why am I actually a leader?
Staying up all night, delegating tasks, organizing every detail to the T; sometimes being a leader brings more stress than it does joy. But through all of the struggles and countless cups of coffee, there is nothing more rewarding in this world than being a leader.
I can't say where my yellow brick road of leadership began, but leadership has always played a constant role in my life. I grew up in a standard household in the South Jersey suburbs with two parents, a brother and a dog. My father was a manager of a golf course, my mother was in charge of HR for our local bank and my brother was captain of his high school golf team at the age of 14. Since my house was full of leaders, I didn't really have much of a choice than to pursue leadership positions for myself.
Though I had a constant stream of leadership roles in high school, I never had the right intentions. I wanted to be president of a club so I could say I was president, not to do any of the work. It was not until my senior year of high school that I truly understood what being a leader meant.
My senior musical was "Oklahoma!" The exclamation point may be in the name, but my feelings toward this show were anything but excited. Based on my junior year performance, I was a shoo-in for one of the leads. After a horrifying audition, I did not get the role. Although I was devastated, I applied for the apprentice director of the show. The assistant director of the show did not want any apprentice directors, so I did not get that position either. Finally, I was given apprentice producer. Annoyed and heartbroken by my own theatre department, I took on the role of apprentice producer and ended up finding a true passion for it.
Almost four years later, I could not be more thankful for my senior musical. Being a producer showed me I loved the behind-the-scenes aspect. I loved planning, I loved organizing and I loved promoting. Who knew being social and talking about a show was actually doing work? This show led me to seek a major in public relations. As an honors student, I didn’t want to get into just any PR program but THE PR program. Rowan’s award-winning Public Relations program made this university an obvious choice.
Rowan has not only provided me a home, but it has also given me more leadership opportunities than I could have ever imagined. Through growing pains, heartache and more stress than one could imagine, the leadership opportunities I have gotten through this university have saved my life. They have proved to me that I can overcome defeat and do something greater than I ever expected.
Being a leader changed my life for the better. If I never had that leadership position senior year, I would have never fully understood the depth it takes to be a leader. It may be an important title, but it is the work you put into it that truly makes a leader deserve the title.
I would be lying if I said there are days I didn’t want to quit. Being a leader is not easy. It is overwhelming, frustrating and sometimes extremely difficult. However, if I gave up when I was a senior, I would not be in the positions I am in today.
