Leading by Listening by Pascaline

Leading by Listening by Pascaline - March 2026 Scholarship Essay

My most meaningful leadership experience is being the social media coordinator for my graduating class. Our school didn’t have much motivation to participate in events. Since everyone is always online, I knew a class page could bring people together. I saw it work at other schools and decided to try it out. Since I was going to do online activities, I made a plan to work with teachers for approval and use my peers to promote the account. I created posters on Canva and then worked with teachers to get approval on the content. I posted and then asked my peers to promote it. After the first post I saw results, people started responding and following the account.

To learn from previous posts, I asked peers for feedback on the design to improve for the next set of posts. They also made suggestions on getting people’s attention. I took their suggestions and continued to make new posts. I continued to get feedback as part of my process. Soon, I saw increased participation at events, and our instagram account attracted more students from our school.

I realized that students felt safer opening up to me online. They sent great suggestions for making our senior events more fun. So, I started a group chat for the students to continue to contribute ideas.

My leadership as the social media coordinator inspired my lower classmates. They came to me for guidance on how to start a similar account and promote their class activities and events. I gladly helped them and made sure they understood that there was a process they needed to follow. The teachers were happy to see students at all levels becoming more involved. Even other schools were complimenting us on doing a great job promoting our school in such a fun positive way.

Overall I learned that leadership is a process that involves taking responsibility, listening, and helping others find their voice. This experience taught me that leadership doesn’t always mean being the loudest voice in the room. Instead, it means creating opportunities for others to share their voices. I realized that one of my strengths is listening to people and helping turn their ideas into action. By taking the initiative to start something small, I discovered that I could bring people together and make a positive impact on my school community. I’ve learned how to build trust and strong relationships, whether it’s encouraging someone to share their ideas, try something new, or simply being there to listen.