Learning to Lead by Jaime

Learning to Lead by Jaime - March 2026 Scholarship Essay

A time I helped someone was when a student of a team that I coach was going through a bad fight with one of their teachers. We sat in the team’s meeting area as the others were practicing, and I looked over at the student’s confused face. They genuinely didn’t understand what they did wrong. I am not that good at clearing up relationships and arguments myself, but I knew in that moment that I had to help them. I sat with the student for an hour, explaining how they could’ve responded that would’ve been better, how the student’s words may have hurt the teacher, and how words can escalate the situation.

Through this experience, I learned that I am much more patient than I thought. Growing up with six younger siblings and a revolving door of foster siblings, I thought I had mastered the art of patience, but coaching has revealed to me that there is a whole new side of patience that I had never seen before. One of my mentors at the college told me when I started that it would help me learn classroom management skills in a less stressful situation, and at first, I didn’t believe that. I thought that the students I coached were better, that they would be easy and nothing would go wrong. I had forgotten that these were still teenagers, that the school crush was still the biggest drama around. I did have to go up to my mentor after a few weeks of coaching and admit I was wrong, because I had underestimated the emotional complexity that the students would have. I also doubted my own ability to guide them through these situations.

This experience showed me that I can be a good teacher one day, as I plan to be. It showed me that my fears about not being capable of resolving conflict are unfounded. I will enter the field of education in a few years with a well-equipped toolbelt for conflict resolution, classroom management, and the patience required to support every student that walks into my future classroom. I am no longer driven by simply the passion I have for my English Education degree, but also a deeper passion for the pedagogical aspect of my degree. This experience has made me more excited than ever to enter into the classroom, ready to face whatever challenges and celebrate the accomplishments my students will bring with them.