STARS LEAD has given me the opportunity to develop and polish on leadership qualities that I wish to ascertain or currently have. Because of this, I believe that the STARS program is essential and a great benefit in my goal of becoming a leader. STARS LEAD has also allowed me to have that support to do things that I otherwise would not have had the nerve to do. By the end of the end of the program, I hope to have developed many new skills and have many leadership opportunities open up for me. I also hope, most of all, I develop my public speaking skills as well as my ability to maintain a intellectual yet engaging conversation. At the moment, I would be considered a shy speaker. I don't particularly enjoy speaking in front of crowds or people I do not know. When I do, I tend to fidget or tap my feet. I also try not to make direct eye contact and every now and then i stutter. Hopefully, I will be able to change that and take the initiative to become less of a feeble speaker. Our first stars meeting, in my opinion, was very interesting. Not that we had a lot to say on the first day other then the outline of the program and our requirements, I did enjoy meeting and developing friendships. I think that these things are very essential in the future. Networking that is. One never knows if the person they meet will connect you to your dream job!

The definition of leadership... now, that's tough question. Leadership is being able to take responsibility of task with their integrity. Leader chooses opinions that does not necessarily benefit themselves but benefits the group as a whole. They have a sense of humility and able to make changes when they are wrong. Leaders must be trusted or there is no one willing to be lead. Leaders are strong individuals that others can relay on.

This semester, I hope to have successfully accorded a job and making money to pay off debts. I also hope to have applied to at least 3-5 internships for over the summer. I also hope to improve my grabs and also, improve my overall performance with chemistry. its sounds rather tough for me at the moment but with a lot of work, all of these goals are obtainable.

This quote by Martin Luther King Jr. is a very inspirational part of his speech. It talks about the importance of leadership in starting a movements. He says that a movement do not occur due to unfortunate circumstance, but occurs because of struggle and taking the initiative to go the extra mile.

On to the E-portfolio presentation. I thought that the presentation was absolutely eye opening to me. I was absolutely unaware that I had this ability to create such an amazing portfolio at my disposal. I learned just about everything from how to change the layout all the way to sorting through documents to decide what to use in a presentation to a job or community service group. I guess for me, I would like to highlight my experiences as being a leader and my various experiences in lab environments or in biology. This is essential because it would help fodder my future career choice.

Why is it important to serve others as a leader? Because being a leader gives you a large amount of power. And to dust of a old chestnut, "with great power comes great responsibility". As cheesy as this quote is, it is true. A leader who is not socially responsible and thinks solely of themselves does not lead because the whole group is not intact. A cohesive group is needed for a leader to actually "lead".

I am most passionate about friendship. I believe that this is very important in life and that without it, one could not be who they are. They model you to who you are today. This relates to leadership because in many instances where the friendship is tested, one must be the leader to try and mend the problem. Or know when they are wrong. Though a relationship is a cooperative effort, more likely than not, there is a leader who supports the friendship.

I'll end with a song about friendship and guidance.

So who am I? I'm Willie Ho. I am a Chicagoan and absolutely proud of it. I am an under spoken person.