This series of stories were written by high school students from Joe Pellerito’s Advanced Teen Leadership Class at East Kentwood High School. They wrote about the heroes in their lives. Stories were written especially for now.wktv.com. Look for their stories in the weeks to come!
“Hard times don’t create heroes. It is during the hard times when the ‘hero’ within us is revealed.” This quote by Bob Riley means that your inner hero is not based on the situations themselves but about the qualities that are presented when in these situations, leadership is a prime quality that is revealed. My mom is the main person I know that portrays leadership in her everyday life.
Examples of how my mom portrays the quality of being a hero varies from day to day. Having to be the mother of four kids is a big way of showing leadership. My mom has to run us to appointments and pay bills. When I tore my ACL, I thought my life was over and thought I could never play soccer again. My mom, on the other hand, took things in a whole different direction. instead of looking at the negatives and thinking about how I wasn’t going to get scholarships for college and all, she had the mentality of a leader and said that everything was going to be okay.
My mom took control of the situation and made into an adventure. From the painful leg exercises I had to do to the dreadful showers I had to take, my mom was right there cheering me and supporting me. She made me do each set of exercises no matter how tired I was. During this whole ordeal I saw leadership skills come out in my mom.
My mom is a leader because she takes control of situations and calms them down. She knows what the best thing to do in each situation she comes across. Many people get put in scenarios that they don’t want to be in and end up blocking it out or trying to run from it, but not my mom.
I look up to her and one day I hope to possess the leadership qualities she has. It has made her a very independent and mindful women. Not many people want or can show these qualities but my mom embraces it, needless to say, that is why I picked my mom as the one person in my life that is a true leader and will always be a leader.
