When I came to college, I didn’t want to get involved, I wanted to take a break from being a leader. But then I joined the Honors Program on a whim, and after hearing my Community Advisor rant about how great it was to get involved on campus, I couldn’t resist. Over the course of my time at Minnesota State University Mankato, I have written numerous leadership essays for the Honors First Year Experience class and for job/scholarship applications and joined numerous student organizations. After being so involved throughout high school, it should have been easy to boast about my leadership skills, but when asked to truly evaluate myself, the task was a hard one. I often identified my leadership values throughout each of the essays, the top five being consistency, discipline, harmony, empathy and input, which are based upon the Strength Based Leadership quiz. I also showcased several of what I believed were my leadership values, being a mentor, displaying strong communication skills, and creating meaningful relationships with professional staff on campus. Though identifying my leadership skills and values, it was easy to apply how then I was able to work best in a team setting. Such as, the first leadership position I held was on community council, a group of leaders elected on each floor of the residence halls at MSU. There were various roles, such as President, Treasurer, Event Coordinator, and the RHA representative. Our job was to take ideas from the rest of the students on the floor and plan floor events and to discus ways we could improve the residence halls. We each chose a role that played to our strengths, Angela as the President as she was a second-year student, Mariah as the Event Coordinator as she was an extroverted person, and me as the RHA representative as I wanted to make changes and help others in the residence halls. Our floor had a large group of students join at first, but some people slowly lost interest, but the girls who stayed were often Honors students. It became apparent that the four positions above were crucial to keep the council going as the President went to outside meetings, the Event Coordinator spearheaded events with budget help from the treasurer, and the RHA representative was a liaison between the council and the student organization RHA. I believed my strongest asset that shows the best of my leadership skills is the ability to lead with harmony, the ability to make sure everyone’s voices are heard. This skill truly shined when I was the RHA representative because my floor wanted wider shower curtains in our bathroom for better privacy and I advocated this issue during the room and board rates process RHA holds every fall! Talking in front of a large group, especially in front of an executive board of upper freshman was terrifying, but my Community Advisor was able to show me the ropes of parliamentarian procedure and I grew comfortable with my voice over time. As I look back on this experience today, it is amazing how far I have come from not only identifying my leadership strengths and skills, but having my own leadership philosophy! I included these essays to show how I viewed leadership during my freshman year of college and remind myself of how much I have grown. By feeling forced to join an organization to fulfill the leadership competency, I started on a wonderful path filled with opportunities to advance myself as a leader. If I hadn’t joined the Honors Program, I don’t know where I would be today.