Many of the G.O.A.L.S from the University Honors and Scholars are present in my everyday life. Both inside and outside of the classroom, I feel the G.O.A.L.S shaping me as a person, and giving me ideas of the kind of person I want to be and the kind of things I would like to accomplish in my life. However, two of the G.O.A.L.S are more present and weighing than the rest: Leadership Development and Service Engagement. These two characteristics have always been a big part of my life, are a huge part of my life now, and will be everything in my life moving forward.
Leadership Development and Service Engagement are two attributes that I am proud to say have played a large role in shaping me in the man I am today. As a youth and well into my high school years, Leadership and Service were apart of sports for me, as well as volunteering at my church. Service to me was everything from serving in the soup kitchen to helping set up beds and areas for homeless to sleep. Also during my high school years, I volunteered at the Virginia Air and Space Museum where I worked with children wanting to learn more about science. It was nice being able to mentor young kids and help them to reach their potential and explore their interests. Although I do enjoy service, I feel that my greatest strength is leadership, hands down. On all of my high school sports teams, Cross Country, Golf, Lacrosse, and Basketball, I was voted team captain and took every opportunity to lead by example. I love the feeling of having people depending on me and looking to me to see what I will do in different situations. This, I feel, inspires greatness, and that is what motivates me moving forward: the need for greatness.
I can confidently say that leadership and service are apart of my everyday life. I live, eat and breathe these attributes. This is because I am a Cadet in the AFROTC Program at Detachment 645 here at Ohio State. Going through this program has changed me more than any other single action in my life, I had to change, or I wouldn’t have made it this far. In the Air Force, the first thing we learn are the Air Force Core Values: Integrity First, Service Before Self, Excellence In All We Do. Service Before Self is extremely important to me currently, and it isn’t just a nice catch phrase or something I take lightly. I helped out with the annual 1 Day for the KIA race around the oval, which raises money for families of those who have been KIA, POW, or MIA. This past year, the organization raised $20,000 for the cause, something I like to think I helped with. I made bags lining the track with the names of fallen OSU heroes, their service branch, the conflict they were in, and their rank. I also did the Color Guard for the race as part of the Centurion Drill Team. Leadership is the other thing that we learn all about in AFROTC, and a trait that I find unique to me. Leadership is something we never stop learning about, and something that isn’t concrete or something that has a set pattern or way of being done. General Omar Bradley said a great quote that depicts this: “Leadership is intangible, therefore no weapon ever designed can replace it”. There is no set rulebook on how to lead, no step-by-step process in which one can become the next Dwight D. Eisenhower or Abraham Lincoln, it is something that must be figured out individually, and in my opinion, through trial and error.
In the future, I hope to be commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the United States Air Force. Leadership and Service will be the bedrock for which I form my career as an Officer, and will be of the utmost importance. As an officer, I will be responsible for overseeing the operations of 50 or more enlisted airmen, and this will involve leadership abilities that need to be instinctive and already proven. A great man once said, “learn from all leaders, good and bad”. This is another thing that is important, to learn from other leaders. Service to my country is what I see in my future, which is why Service Engagement is so important to me. I want to fight for those who don’t have a voice heard; I want to be a defender of freedom and to be somebody to be looked up to. As I said before: leadership and service aren’t in my future, they are my future.