Learning to Thrive Under Pressure by Daniel

Learning to Thrive Under Pressure by Daniel - January 2026 Scholarship Essay

Throughout my life, I had never really been pushed to lead a group of people until last year, when I managed the Haunted House for my school’s Harvest Fest. As I’m the president of my school’s E-Sports club, I was tasked with managing and overseeing everything regarding the fundraiser. Only having a week to plan, build, and execute the event, a large amount of stress was placed upon me. Regardless, I pushed through the hardships and was able to fundraise over $550 for the club in two hours.
 
During the planning stage of the project, I had to guide the other club officers to create the perfect idea. After days of rejected ideas, arguments, and changes in the event’s theme, I led them to create an idea that we could all agree on. We would go on to base the Haunted House on the popular  video game Lethal Company. With only a few days left to build the costumes and craft the interior of the Haunted House, I knew I had to take charge and make sure the project got finished quickly and efficiently.
 
When the building stage of the project began, I realized a major flaw with our club. Because of how close we were to the date of the Haunted House, I couldn’t send a request to my school’s treasurer to purchase any materials or props for the Haunted House, therefore we had no funding.  As a result, I had to improvise as everything now needed to be based on donations. I advertised to the entire school that we needed materials such as cardboard, duct tape, and construction paper. By doing so we were able to reach the number of resources required to start working on building everything.
 
Finally, I had to execute the event perfectly in order to maximize the profit and enjoyment generated by the Haunted House. Scrambling to get the actors, audio managers, and other volunteers in order, I was able to get everything in order just before it was time for the Haunted House to open.
 
This experience led me to discover how I thrive in managing a team, even while under extreme pressure. In turn, this skill has led me to better cooperate with my peers while in a work environment. Furthermore, this will likely translate over to my dream job of becoming a software engineer.