Towards the beginning of this year, at one of the first few meetings we had as a whole student council, Ms. Schroeder(our club mom and advisor) told us all to “be proactive” when we go out to fundraise. She said we should always be prepared to inspire people we meet when we just go about our day to day lives. That phrase wasn’t something new to me.
Starting in first grade, I went to a school called A. B. Combs Leadership Magnet Elementary. Funny enough, Ms. Schroeder worked there at the time too. The school’s magnet distinction was that it taught leadership skills based on The 7 Habits of Happy Kids by Sean Covey and The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by his father, Dr. Stephen Covey. Throughout my 5 years there, everything we did at school revolved around the concept of the seven habits, so much so that everyone had learned them by heart within the first few weeks of school.
Even now I have a copy of The 7 Habits of Happy Kids on my bookshelf. When you first see the children’s book, it’s bright and eye-catching, with two fat yellow stripes, dark blue font, a “7” in a striking shining red, and illustrations of different animal kids all across the cover. Then when you open the book, passing a lush town map, table of contents, and character bios until you reach the first story about Sammy Squirrel. And on page 23 of the storybook, after Sammy learns a valuable lesson in responsibility, the author reveals the first habit: Be Proactive.
It’s crazy how your childhood experiences shape you and how prominent they could end up being in your life later on. Because of what I was taught in elementary school, hearing the words “be proactive” made me think of fundraising in a personal way. It reminded me that I have to take initiative and put myself out there to make the connections, that I couldn’t just rely on friendships and obligations to pull me through. If I had missed the meeting where Ms. Schroeder said that familiar phrase, I might never have been inspired to actively reach beyond my circle and find support from people who have never heard of Enloe Charity Ball. And we would have been all the poorer (in diversity and monetary amounts) for it.
So take charge just like Sammy Squirrel when he realized he couldn’t just ask his friends to solve his boredom but that he had to solve it for himself. Make the effort to reach out to people you don’t know or who don’t know about our organization. There are people out there just waiting to be inspired to take action to better our community and make a difference, all you have to do is be proactive.
Natalie Yeung
Junior Class President
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