Personal Best Leadership Experience

Task: 1. Identify the situation in which you led:  2.  Provide background to understand the circumstances.  3. What outcomes (differences) were realized?  4. What things did you do as a leader that a made a difference in this situation?  5. List important traits or behaviours the situation required.             Camp Birch Trail is what I consider to be my second home. It is a place that I have been going to for seven summers because there are so many things that keep me wanting to come back. One of my favorite things at  camp, that draws me in each year is called Pandemonium. Pandemonium is essentially my camp's color wars.  Each year the whole camp and staff is divided into teams and the oldest campers are assigned to be a color  wars captain. They  lead their  team through cheer, activities, and most of all -- spirit. The team that is awarded  the most color bands is the winner. To obtain these color bands it is important to cheer your heart out, do  everything to the best of your ability, play fair, and just have fun. However, color war winners are NOT the  teams with all the best athletes. Sometimes coming in last place but never giving up, or cheering for another  team to keep going exceeds coming in first place in every event.       When it was finally my turn to lead a color war's team, I was assigned to be a green clovers captain. I  knew how much I looked up to my past captains and wanted to be sure to have the same effect on my team.  I wanted each and every younger camper to love Pandemonium as much as I did. To do this I made sure that  everyone was involved including the littlest campers and encouraging everyone to be loud and energetic. I  reminded my team that as cheesy as the saying goes, "everyone is truly a winner at Camp Birch Trail." I told  them I didn't care what place we got as long as everyone tried their best and had the time of their lives.  Typically I am a very competitive person, but at camp, during this special time, I realized winning truly does  not matter, and those who only care about winning aren't the ones that shine through in the end.       During the events that we didn't do well in I kept my smile on, the energy high, and my excitement and  spirits up. I saw the impact my leadership had on my younger teammates when we were in last place of the relay but they never stopped cheering and never slowed down while seeing all the other teams finish  before them. They continued to passed the last cup of water down the line to fill the bucket as if it was the  first. They never slowed down and not one of them lost their spirit.       When they announced that our team came in fourth place overall every single green clover jumped in the air  cheering. It wasn't because we weren't the team stuck in very last place but because they had so much fun  and knew they put forth their best effort. I  couldn't have been more proud of my team! This summer I plan to  return to camp as a counselor, and I hope to be an advisor for the green clovers. I look forward to helping the  new captains keep focused on things that truly matter during color wars.