1.

Leadership Impact

In my junior year I was able to create a significant impact in

my community by coming out and becoming one of three
openly gay students in my school of four hundred boys, in
rural Virginia. My decision to come out at Woodberry had a
strong impact on my community because I was more in my
school's mainstream than the other two openly gay
students. Because I was arguably one of its more popular
students, most of the students in my grade found
themselves confronted with the fact that one of their friends
was part of a minority they had previously tried to
ignore.Obviously, I was a little more isolated and unpopular
after junior year, but I prompted a more equitable
understanding of sexuality issues in my grade and school
community at large.

2. Plans for Next Academic Year

At Berkeley, I want to continue my leadership experience in

student publications. As a freshman I don't expect to hold a
leadership position like the one I have now as senior.
Therefore, I plan to use my freshmen year as an
opportunity to sample Berkeley's many artistic journals, and
hopefully to commit to one. I look forward to spending my
free time working at the Berkeley Poetry Review, BARE,
CLAM, or possibly the Blue and Gold Yearbook and
definitely with the Writer's Circle at Berkeley.

3. Effective & Inspirational Leadership

The leadership role I am most proud of holding in high

school is the position of prose editor for The Talon, my
school's literary magazine. It is my responsibility to motivate
a board of about fifteen students to read, discuss, vote on,
and edit prose submissions to the magazine.

After the voting process, I work with the accepted authors at

crafting their prose for success after publication. It is my
responsibility to provide constructive criticism and help
teach my school's writers about the revision process.

I am very fortunate in that the prose board is not a required

activity. I tend to work with students who are for the most
part engaged with and motivated about the work they are
doing. Unfortunately for me, board members also have
other responsibilities. I have to make the expectations of
the magazine--to have read all submissions, to attend all
meetings, to vote on all pieces, to offer commentary in
meetings, and to submit writing for review--clear, so that
when students prioritize they can give the Talon the time it
needs or decide to withdraw from the board.

I am very proud, however, of the fact that no prose board

member has ever withdrawn during my time as editor. I help
students make the responsibilities of the Talon work with
their other duties by individually discussing how to fit in the
time to prepare for meetings.

In meetings, I motivate the board to pursue its common

goal-- the production of the best writing our school can
offer-- by using my skills as a reader and conversationalist
to build an atmosphere where students are comfortable
sharing their ideas, responses to a piece, and arguments
for why or why not a piece should be published. It is my
duty to make sure that this entire dialogue is held in a
respectful tone and decorum, because every board member
is required to submit a piece of prose. I make this happen
by asking questions about a certain aspect of a piece, such
as its tone, but not by offering my own opinion.

The most important impact, or change, I brought to the

Talon was the suggestions I made to my fellow editors
(junior prose editors, and editors of poetry) about the
revision process. I have argued for the idea that editors
should only be a framework for a revisionist thought
process, and not the actual revisers. For example, it should
be an editor's responsibility to circle a problematic word, but
not to cross it out and write a new one.