Introduction to Student Leadership: Student Leadership Playbook 1. Choose

CHOOSE to attend, join, and be a part of the club, organization, team, etc. The first step is always the hardest. Student Leadership is a choice. I can remember starting middle school and seeing signs/flyers on the walls. Come to this meeting. Join our club. Be a part of our organization. 

I would look at those signs in the hallways and think to myself I want to attend the meeting. I would be handed a flyer and asked to join the club but the voice in my head  would start to tell me that I would not fit in. The voice in my head would tell me that they would not want me in the club. The voice in my head would tell me I was not good enough to be a part of the club, organization or team. 

After I made the choice to not go to the meeting I would walk by the signs and feel ashamed. After I didn’t join the club I felt like a coward. After I didnt become a part of the organization/team I felt like a loser. 

I wanted so bad to feel like a winner. I wanted so bad to feel the excitement from attending the meetings. I wanted to feel the unity in joining the clubs and organizations. I wanted to feel the intense nervousness/confidence of being on the team. I wanted so bad to feel a part of something bigger than myself. I wanted to become something bigger than myself. 

That was 6th grade. A year later in 7th grade I walked down the halls of a different school. I had moved but I would still see the signs on the walls. I was older, taller, and had more pimples, but the students still handed me flyers to join the clubs. I was stronger and faster (still weak but not as weak, still slow but not as slow) and even more they asked me to be a part of the teams. Not only did the same experience follow me, but the same feelings followed me. The voice in my head followed me. The burning desire on the inside followed me. 

Would anything be different in 7th grade or would I still feel ashamed, feel like a coward, feel like a loser?

7th grade was so much different because I made a choice. I did not let the voice in my head make the choice for me. I made the choice to attend, join, and be a part my 7th grade year. I made the choice to attend the meetings I saw on the wall. I made a choice to join the clubs and organizations. I made a choice to be a part of the team. I made the choice to be a part of something bigger than myself. I made a choice to become something bigger than myself.