bethany made me
Personal Statement
Nick Tselepis 3-5-05
Leadership by example is the only kind of leadership. If one just sits back and gives orders then one is not really a leader at all. I strive in every activity I do to be a leader, show my leadership skills, and develop them even more. Whether I am volunteering with my football team, scoring at the top of the pack on standardized tests, or leading a group of boys on a two-week trek through the mountains, I am always trying to be a leader. I will focus on my school activities, and how they show leadership, then move onto my out of school activities, and explain how they show leadership.
Since 10th grade I have been an active member of Business Professionals of America. I have attended two regional leadership conferences with BPA. At the most recent one I was named regional champion in Extemporaneous Speech, I took 2nd in the region in Administrative Support Concepts, and 3rd in the region in VB.NET Programming. My high ranks in these areas are directly proportional to the amount of time I spent preparing for competition. I was one of the teams highest performers, and look forward to leading our team triumphantly onto the state and national leadership conferences. I am also a member of Mock Trial. I am an attorney for the defense. This takes up a large chunk of time, because everything must be so perfectly prepared and polished. We will soon be going to competition where I am sure we will make Dow High proud. I do my best to set a good example for the younger kids on the team, and to mentor them in the ways of the law, not only to be a leader but also to improve the team for next year. I am also a member of the competitive forensics team. Last year I was a state finalist in the category of Extemporaneous Speech 9-10, thus so far this year I have already achieved 2nd place in a tournament in my new event, Impromptu Speech. This once again reflects the large amount of work I put in to preparing for our competitions. I am also a member of Dow High’s quiz bowl team. We took 1st at the Delta College competition last year, and hope to do the same this year. We are also planning on attending other more state oriented tournaments, to show the prestige of Dow High to other schools. I am also a member of Poetry Club, where I am the treasurer.
As well as clubs I am quite active in other organizations in Dow High. I am a member of the Varsity Football Team. I received an award for being on the SVL All Academic Team for football. I have befriended many younger students on the football team, and I hope they look to me as an example of what an upperclassmen should be like. I am also a member of the track team. I also do a few strictly leadership activities at Dow, chief among with is Student Union. I am the BPA Representative to Student Union. I always voice my opinions in the meetings, and during the budget meeting my opinions helped expedite proceedings a few times. I also attended Camp Outlook. This was an invaluable experience in developing me as a leader, and just making me a better person. I was nominated for that camp because of the leadership I show every day at Dow, but it developed me as a leader so much more than any other activity I have ever completed.
I do not limit myself to school sponsored activities however. I am an employee of McDonalds, where I work about eight hours a week. I am in the process of being promoted to Crew Trainer, the highest position a minor can have. I was named Employee of the Month in January, and won the Golden Moment Award many times. I always lead at McDonalds, one time I came in as a customer, and saw that the staff was having issues in efficiency, and delivering the Brand Promise of Quality Service and Value. I at that point gave up my plans for that Friday Night and went in to help out. I took charge of the drive thru area and took our average times from over 200 seconds to under 90. My leadership in that instance won me the commandment of all my managers. I have also worked on many volunteer activities. I volunteered at Freshman Orientation, helping out Mrs. Sutton present to new parents. I volunteered at The Open Door, with the football team, serving lunch to people less fortunate than us. Every week I go over to Jefferson to lead a team of eighth graders who share my passion, history. I aid Mrs. Kawakita in coaching Jefferson’s U.S. History Academic Track. Recently at their first meet, my team swept 1st 2nd and 3rd places from the other school. I was also selected to attend a meeting about ways to reduce the teen accident rate, once again for the football team; this meeting, and I were both featured in the Midland Daily News.
My greatest achievement of my young life has been the attainment of the rank of Eagle Scout. I have been active in Boy Scouts for over 8 years, and this was the culmination of all my work toward the Scout Oath and Law. I am a Junior Assistant Scoutmaster now, so my job is to be just like an adult leader, and mentor all the younger scouts. I lead them all by example in how to attain the rank of Eagle Scout. I had to do a project in order to attain the rank of Eagle, so I spent over 50 hours planning, raising money for, and constructing wheelchair accessible planter boxes for disabled persons living at Pinecrest Farms. I led over 20 other scouts to help me complete this project. My project also led by example as being the first project to completely fund itself, through my hard fundraising work. Almost every person doing a project in my troop since then followed my lead, and have raised their own funds. However that is not the only way I have shown leadership in scouting. As an 8th grader I went on a high adventure to Philmont Scout Ranch, I had a good time, and we took one of the easier treks. I recently this summer took a group of 10 scouts and adults back to Philmont Scout Ranch, this time though I was not just a member, I was the crew leader, in charge of every aspect of our life in the wilderness for the 2 weeks we were gone. We also did not have one of the easier treks; by difficulty we had the most physically strenuous trek available at Philmont. We climbed every major peek there, and I made sure that every single person who started with my crew made it through. Many of them doubted they could do it, but with their hard work and my leadership we all made it. I received the “We All Made It” award for my accomplishment as a crew leader.
This summer I did many other leadership activities. I attended a seminar in Washington DC sponsored by Presidential Classroom. This invitation only seminar developed my legal knowledge and leadership skills. I was invited because of my membership in Who’s Who of American High School Students. I also volunteered a lot of my time with Dave Camp’s office. I developed leadership by working with one of the great leaders of our nation. I also feel that my volunteering for Mr. Camp was beneficial to the whole 4th congressional district, not just our town of Midland. I spent many hours riding around the state, marching in parades; as well as spending many hours making phone calls about Dave’s agenda. I was a personal community link to Congressman Camp. Finally I represented Dow High in our community as a member of the Junior Executive Board for the Northwood Auto Show. It is the largest outdoor auto show in the nation, and I worked quite hard to put it together, and run it smoothly. I did my best to present a shining image of Dow High students to Northwood, and the over 50,000 attendees of the show.
Lastly another main way to show leadership is through scholastic achievement. I am a high achieving student in all aspects. I took the US History AP Test, and was one of two students at Dow to get a 5, the highest possible score. I also took the SAT and received a score of 1540, only 60 points away from perfect. Last marking period, while balancing all the aforementioned activities, I took 7 hours of classes, 3 hours of honors, 3 hours of advanced, and only one regular class (which is Spanish 1, required for college admission). I received no semester grade lower than an A-. As I said before I was inducted to Who’s Who, partly because of my scholastic achievement.
So as you have seen throughout this essay, I take leadership and community activism, and scholarly activities very seriously. I am involved in numerous activities, both school sponsored and non-school sponsored. I go above and beyond all expectations to find ways to better myself as a leader, and better our community as a whole. Whether it is representing our school in state competitions, or representing our Congressman, or leading a group of scouts up mountains, I will be there leading the way. I feel that I am a perfect candidate for National Honor Society; I show leadership, dedication to community service, and scholarly achievement.
*Explanation of additional included materials, all our direct copies for the originals.
1.) This is a handwritten thank-you note from our principal Mrs. Goodall, thanking me for my service on the Junior Executive Board.
2.) This is a note from Dave Camp thanking me for my service to him
3.) This is a letter thanking me for my volunteering at incoming freshman night.
4.) This is a copy of my score sheet from BPA Regional Leadership Conference; I received all the possible points.
5.) This is a certificate certifying that I completed a week at Presidential Classroom
6.) This is my certificate certifying me as a member of the SVL ALL Academic Team.
7.) This is my first Varsity Letter Award from Dow High
8.) This is certification of my 5 on the AP History test.
9.) This is certification of my 1540 SAT
lol so u see i relaly did write a hell of alot :-)
courtney you make me feel so amazing, the lil things you do for me the lil text messages just show me how much you care. i love you. this time apart (3 years lol) will just make us stronger, i look forward to spending the rest of my life with you fuck anyone who says we cant make it. (if you are reading this it means you read my whole essay, so you can read what i really feel lol)
nick