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Gretchen Merrill

Leadership

To me leadership is the ability to direct a group of people in order to achieve a common

goal. From a very young age, I would take the principal role of guiding my peers through things

like school projects, extracurricular activities, and group tasks. Once I got to the age where I was

able to be an established leader, I took advantage of my opportunities. This love for leading has

led to a quicker maturity and goodwill resulting in me volunteering, getting a job, and involving

myself at school. More recently, I act as a leader in DECA E-board, Class office E-board, and

managing a soccer team. Overall, leadership is a very important aspect of my life.

Despite common misconception, being a good leader does not mean abusing authority,

being overbearing, or ignoring others' intel. Instead I believe that a good leader is someone who

is able to motivate others, consider other ideas, learn along the way, and always be willing to

lend a helping hand. To me, it is important that as a leader I am someone who people trust, feel

comfortable going to, and is always kind. I also believe that being a leader is a trait that sticks

out when filling out a resume or applying to a college. As an added bonus, being a leader

provides me the senses of purpose I get when I have made some impact on the community or the

people around me. With that, I often find myself looking up to people in student council and the

class president. Additionally, people who lead movements and social revolutions are people that

greatly inspire me and motivate me to one day be more like them. I want to be someone who can

see a problem, manage a group to help out, execute a plan, and work towards a permanent

difference. The footprint that I leave is something that is always driving me to be the best version

of myself. Some of my personal traits that I value the most include my independence,

adaptability, communication skills, confidence, and decisiveness. These attributes greatly

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contribute to my ability to be a successful leader. I hope that as I continue my way through

highschool and onto college I will be able to grow my leadership skills and keep taking

advantage of my leadership opportunities.

I try to involve myself as a leader in both my school and my community. The past two

years I have been a member of the class of 2026 class office executive board. Here I attend

regular meetings, plan events/fundraisers, bring new ideas to the table, and collaborate with other

leaders. In this role I feel like I am able to help others simply by doing the things I love.

Additionally, this past year I gained the position of the Nipmuc girls varsity soccer team

manager. My job as this management role differs greatly from my class office position, but they

both equally come with a sense of responsibility and empowerment. For the soccer team, I am

tasked with taking statistics, traveling with the team, helping coaches with various needs, and

supporting the players. I find joy in my ability to leave a positive impact on those around me

when in the position of leadership.

Guiding others takes up a large portion of my life and who I am. I strive to continuously

expand my knowledge and skills as a leader in order to attain higher levels of authority in the

future. If I am given the opportunity to be a member of Nipnmuc’s National Honor Society

chapter I will be driven to help others and continue to exhibit the act of leadership