My Super Web Powers by Christian

My Super Web Powers by Christian - January 2017 Scholarship Essay

Being a leader is a highly respected role that can be challenging and rewarding. Leadership is very rewarding because on a daily basis, I have the opportunity to motivate and inspire others. I always question myself on how things are done and where I can improve my leadership abilities. Small questions that are used to reflect on processes are good, however, I believe in asking myself, “Where do you see yourself making the largest impact and how are you going to make that impact?”
As Hartland High School Green Club President, I brainstormed ideas over the summer to find answers to this question. Because Green Club is a student led club, I have great freedom to guide and direct the activities within my abilities. This year, my third year as club president, I wanted to find the largest, non-green area in the school, and reduce its carbon footprint. When I picked up my backpack, heavy from notebooks and worksheets, I immediately found it. Our school, like many nationwide, spends tens of thousands of dollars on paper each year. This is where I found my niche. This is the opportunity for me to make an impact that will continue long after my graduation.
With the problem identified, I needed a plan. The goal that I wanted to accomplish was reducing our school’s paper consumption by 20%. The best way to do this is to go digital, which is simple and effective. At our school, 11% of teachers have a website that displays a calendar, homework, and links to notes/worksheets. After interviewing six high caliber students, I found a direct correlation between how effective a teacher’s website is and how much students excel in their class. I knew this number needed to go up. By aligning with the right people, Green Club would provide a student to guide each teacher through building and maintaining their own website. With the increased use of a website, teachers will use applications such as Google Classroom for homework assignments and tests. This is how I would create the largest impact I could with my resources.
On the first day of school, I approached my Computer Science teacher, the leader of Hartland Women in Technology club and explained my idea. She loved it! Soon after, I met with the Hartland Women in Technology President and began to tweak our process so it would be very smooth and effective. Two weeks later, she and I sat down for a meeting with our Principal and Vice-Principal. They were impressed and joined our efforts! Following this, we gained support from our school district’s Technology Director to discuss certain website criteria we had to meet.
Once Project Web had support from our Principle, Vice-Principle, and Technology Director, we were given three weeks to prepare a presentation for a staff meeting, and assemble a team of students who would guide the teachers when they made their websites. I enlisted help from Green Club and Hartland Women in Technology members, along with some of the schools top performing Web Design students.
These three weeks were the highest stress weeks I have ever lived through! Once the Web Designers had been trained, we found a Director of Web Designers who would handle website issues that Web Designers were struggling to solve.
On November 1st, the President of Women in Technology Club and I stayed after school to present to a crowd of over 100 teachers and faculty. We knocked this presentation out of the park! Over 30% of the school’s teachers signed up for a Web Designer to help them. This quadrupled the amount of beneficial teacher websites at our school. Along with this, our school will reduce paper consumption which will save them capital and reduce their carbon footprint. Project Web not only benefits the school, environment, and teachers, it also benefits the students who create the websites. They are gaining important hands on experience that employer’s desire. My peers approach me and ask me for an update of the savings, and how they can get involved. They also ask for my opinion on their own initiative ideas that will impact our school. Project Web has inspired many and with a school of almost 2,000 students, I am very excited to see what the future holds for Project Web and other initiatives it has inspired. I know that by asking myself a big question, I have created a big effort to leave a great legacy for my school.