Essay from YLC

Born in Atchison, Kansas on July 24, 1897, Amelia Earhart became one of the most widely known pilots that ever lived. Her father took her to an air fair in Toronto when she was young. One of his friends let her go up in his plane and from that very moment, Amelia Earhart knew she would one day become a pilot. As she grew and matured, she never lost sight of her dreams. Flight schools in the United States refused to teach her, so she left for a flight school in France. The flight lessons were extremely expensive. She diligently worked several jobs including photographer, stenographer, truck driver, and others to pay for her pricey lessons. On January 3, 1921, Earhart was able to take her first flying lesson. She went on to be the first female to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, and then set a goal to fly all the way around the world. The first attempt was unsuccessful do to a faulty aircraft. Although she encountered setbacks, she tried again. When Amelia and her copilot had flown over 22,000 miles, they began to experience radio problems. It is believed that their antenna may have broken off. The Elctra 10E they were flying was low on fuel adn they missed the island where they had planned to land by a mere 5 miles. They were only 4,500 miles from completing the global trip. At 8:43 am on July 2, 1937, Earhart sent a message in morse code to a Coast Guard ship saying they were running low on fuel and were going to try to communicate on another radio channel. She would not be heard from again. The Coast Guard searched 150,000 square miles for any sign of Amelia. 4 million dollars went towards search and rescue efforts with no findings. It was the most extensive search ever conducted up to that point in time.
It was George Washington who said, "It should be the highest ambition of every American to extend his views beyond himself, and to bear in mind that his conduct will not only affect himself, his country, and his immediate posterity; but that its influence my be co-extensive with the world, and stamp political happiness or misery on ages yet unborn." Amelia Earhart becam a fantastic leader because of the decisions she made. Her ambition has in fact impacted ages that were yet unborn in her lifetime. In order to be a leader, one must first be a follower. She decided to follow in the footsteps of her father and his friend. The most important trait, which helped bring about her role as a leader, is perseverance. No matter what happened to her, she continued to press toward her ambitions. She believed in herself and did not give up. Everytime an obstacle appeared in her way, it had the opportunity to take away whatever dreams she had worked towards. Some of these "brick walls" she had to face were rejections, high cost, and unsuccessful attempts among other things. In spite of it all she kept going. As Randy Pausch says, "Brick walls are there for a reason: They let you prove how much you want something."
The key to being a leader is having leadership. According to the Army Junior ROTC Unit 1 manual, leadership is the ability to influence, lead or guide others to accomplish a mission in the manner desired by using purpose, direction, and motivation. Amelia has and will continue to be a leader. She has given people a purpose, a reason to go out and do something. That purpose is to make a place in this world for yourself. Find something you love doing and go do it to the best of your ability. She has influenced me to set goals and try my best to accomplish them. She has given the world knowledge, mainly women, that it is possible for them to be independent thinkers and independent in general. Most importantly, she has given us all motivation, the will to do something you are already capapable of. She made a great sacrifice. She was going to accomplish her dreams no matter what the cost. That is what separates the ordinary from the extraoridary. Using the ability to stand firmly for what you believe in to lead the way for others to do the same.