What is Leadership? Marlena Raines
As a leader at Berkeley High, I define leadership as the quality of bringing people together to create a fun, collaborative, and inclusive community. This year our school leadership teams were able to organize a variety of successful and entertaining events, such as the Fall Dance and the Pajama Day Fashion Show. I believe this happened because the student leaders at Berkeley High are very passionate about creating these activities as they care about the happiness of our student body. As Gilbert W. Fairholm wrote in his book, Leadership and the Culture of Trust, “Leadership is not a starring role. True leadership describes unified action of leaders and followers (stakeholders) working together to jointly achieve mutual goals. It is collaborative.” Student leaders also seek to create a unified sense of community at Berkeley High, across learning communities and grades. As a result, students came together, met new people, and felt like they could enjoy and contribute to the community. Many of these events do take place outside of school hours, and so many students still participate and show their excitement even when it’s in their free time. For example, in the fall the freshman team hosted a Pajama Day Fashion Show during Unity Week. The goal was to create a fun activity where people would be able to feel self confident and have a great time. So many students came and walked on the runway during their lunch time. The participants were able to feel included, happy, and more bonded to their peers. In the future I will continue to encourage my fellow classmates to be actively involved in our community as well as be a participant myself. Leadership makes it possible for everyone to truly feel connected to others and have a way to contribute their individuality to their community.