I was always a little bit afraid of being a leader. All through my freshman and sophomore year I didn't join a lot of clubs and didn't run for class office. I didn't want the flashy title and I resented that those titles seemed necessary to get me into college. It kind of became a norm for me to avoid school activities and I focused instead on my community at ballet, thinking that it was fulfilling enough. I owe it to my little sister. She wanted to join the STEM club and only because I had to drive her to school early anyway, I came along to that first meeting too. And even at first, I didn't feel a burning passion for what we were doing. The STEM Career Fair was half a year away, and we were still in the intangible phases of brainstorming and planning. The STEM club was just …show more content…
Two weeks before the fair, the mountain of unchecked to-do items was a glaring reminder that we were far behind schedule. I turned around one day, and suddenly I was in charge. Suddenly I was the person who everyone asked questions, and I had to have answers. I had to know what had to be done and tell everyone to do it. I was responsible for making sure that when May 17th rolled around, we were ready. I didn't know what to do, but I was going to have to improvise. The night before the STEM Fair, I obsessed over the details and imagined countless what-if scenarios. As I walked the halls at school the next day, I imagined the walls lined with booths from universities, research labs, and after school programs. I imagined the science lab transformed into a presentation room with white tablecloths and red flowers on a table, ready for the panelists to speak. I imagined the people from all around the district, milling around and excited to see what the fair had to offer. I itched to get started, and the moment the bell rang, I practically skipped out of 6th