Leader. I learned the word in 3rd grade when I played Follow The Leader for the first time. The objective was simple: hold on to your “leader’s” shoulders with your eyes closed and put one foot in front of the other, tailing the “leader” blindly. The leader decided where his mini-train went, and the game continued until enough “followers” let go from lack of coordination or disorientation. For most of my life, this is how I saw leadership. One individual has a vision of a path to take or a place to be. A true leader has the ability to guide the worthy yet metaphorically sightless group to the leader’s vision. Those who can’t heed the leader’s orders are weeded out, and ultimately are left to watch the group pass them by.

When I got a little older, being a leader meant something else. It meant that you can write a fancy word down next to your name sometimes, like “Secretary” or “Captain.” It essentially meant that you could tell other people what to do. Not only did you get to boss people around, but apparently these roles were something that colleges looked at. They want the future leaders of our generation, and these titles obviously deemed students as such.

So what qualifies high school students for these positions? Most teenagers probably haven’t spent as much of their time in leadership seminars as middle-aged prospective company executives have, so how does a hormonal and possibly emotionally unstable adolescent convince teachers and students that she can take on a task that has a bit more to it than bossing people around (a fact that has yet to be assimilated into her decision making processes from her limited life experience?) I am left to conclude that since they probably weren’t taught leadership like they were taught the Pythagorean Theorem, they might have some inherent leader-like traits that differentiate them the rest of the herd.

These traits may be evident in a person who loves addressing a crowd, or gives off a certain authoritative vibe. Maybe that person has a naturally loud voice, so everyone listens to her whenever she speaks. Or possibly, that person is excellent at presenting himself in a positive light. However these traits are perceived, I think that inherent leaders refused to follow the leader and close their eyes when they were eight. Their reasoning was that they knew that getting to the leader’s intended destination would be easier if they all saw his vision.

Some people have always held this philosophy, and others learn it along the way. But a lot of the time, these kinds of people don’t hold traditional leadership roles. Many leaders in high school fail to go beyond the implications it holds for a college resume. And while leading a club, organization or team requires certain leadership traits, it also requires the ability to influence and motivate others, and a lot of students don’t have the opportunity to do this in high school.

Colleges say that they are looking for future leaders, but they should take the positions that high school students have with a grain of salt. Many students are leaders in unconventional ways. One should judge leadership potential through their failures as leaders or non-leaders, humility and actions, not with the title they were once assigned.