Leadership Journey by Grady

Leadership Journey by Grady - August 2026 Scholarship Essay

As an Eagle Scout, I have had many opportunities to show good leadership. However with opportunities for good comes ability to fail. There were times in my leadership journey that I made mistakes and bad calls. In scouts, we are split into troops based on area and who we want to meet with. Within those troops are called patrols, kind of like small groups. I had been in charge of my patrol for a while but with a lot of help from the other scouts around me. However, a couple years ago, I went on a campout with my troop and was put as the guy in charge of everyone. Since scouts is very youth led, the adults stepped back to watch how I would do. As my first time in charge, I made plenty of mistakes. For example, I did not even think to make a duty chart before we left, which meant that throughout the weekend, there was a few disputes on who did and did not want to cook or wash dishes come meal time.
After everything settled down on Saturday night, I was called over to sit around the fire with the adults while all the kids went to bed. I remember feeling quite nervous at first because I had never experienced anything like this, so I had no clue what was about to happen. But to my surprise, I was not in trouble. All the adults wanted to do was review the weekend with me, give me some advice, and then see what my plans were to use what I learned. We talked about stuff like preparation, thinking quickly, and learning that you cannot please everyone.
Reflecting on the weekend showed me that I had a lot of growth in my future. I still have plenty left but ever since that campout, I have seen myself become a better leader every day. I never go anywhere without written out plans and schedules, I am able to adapt to rapidly changing situations, and have learned how to settle heated conflicts between other people. I have grown so much already, I have even had a couple people want to sit down with me and have the same kind of conversation I had with those adults at that campout. Those conversations not only help the other person, but me as well. I still to this day make sure that even I meet with mentors and the people around me to see what I can do better while leading.