Something New by Olivia

Something New by Olivia - January 2026 Scholarship Essay

The thought of failure can bring shame and the assumption that people will view us as less worthy of respect. This fear often keeps us from trying anything outside our comfort zone. But the moment I lost something I deeply wanted, I discovered that failure doesn’t have to diminish you—it can redefine you.
Last spring, my ASB director encouraged me to run for the position of secretary. I have always preferred working behind the scenes, organizing the details while avoiding the spotlight at all costs. Campaigning and putting myself in front of my peers felt impossible. However, her suggestion planted a seed in my mind and the idea lingered. The more I considered this idea, the more I realized that I was capable of more than I had let myself believe and I was ready to step out of my comfort zone and pursue something different. So I began to campaign. I poured my heart into this thing that I would never have believed myself to do. I cared about this position and how I could serve my school within it. I cared enough to go through an interview in front of a panel of my school’s teachers and staff and I cared enough to give a speech in front of the entire student body. I cared about proving to myself that I could step into a role that I once thought impossible. I was pursuing something that truly scared me because it mattered so deeply to me. When I received the call with the news, the first thing said was, “I know this isn’t what you want to hear…” – and my heart dropped. The disappointment hit as everything I had worked so hard for slipped through my fingers in an instant.
Insecurity began to creep in as I saw myself as ‘the girl who couldn’t win.’ I was convinced that people saw me as less because I had lost. But then other students who had lost their own elections began to approach me and I realized that I got to choose my own reaction to the situation: I could make myself and everyone around me miserable or I could have a positive outlook and grow. So I began to encourage these people, recognizing what they had lost, but reminding them of all the impact they had right where they were. And it wasn’t just candidates who sought me out. Classmates who weren’t involved in the election came up to tell me that they admired how I handled the outcome and used it as a way to connect with others. That was the moment I realized that it wasn’t despite my loss that people approached me–it was because of it.
In that moment, my perspective shifted. Without the weight of that title, I felt freer to share my ideas and pursue the projects that mattered to me. I stopped limiting myself to the boundaries of an elected position. If I’m being honest, being able to navigate my failure with grace for both myself and those around me is something that I still have to intentionally work on every day. But losing that election gave me the foundation. It instilled in me a belief that resilience is less about your reaction to what happens to you and more about the mindset that you choose each and every day. Losing didn’t make me less. It made me more open to new experiences, more bold in the decisions I make, and more excited for what every day has in store.
Now, when I think about failing, I don’t see it as the end. I see it as the start of something new.